


Sleepwalking

by Saoto



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I am so sorry T__T, this fic is on hiatus until my motivation returns from war, which might be never but lets not hope so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-05-04 22:25:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5350649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saoto/pseuds/Saoto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The last thing he remembered was lying in bed, trying his best to finally fall asleep. He hadn’t slept well in a while, and once he actually managed to fall asleep, he usually woke up on the ground next to his bed, or dangling down from the side of it. His head always hurt when he was awake, and he felt more tired with each passing night.<br/>But none of this explained what he was doing here of all places. Adrien Agreste, the model and hero of Paris, was dressed in his leathery superhero suit, and he wasn’t inside of his own room either. How the hell did he get here?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had a weird idea when I saw one of those Sleepwalker figures that seem to be pretty common on rooftops (at least here in Germany). That is pretty much it :')  
> A thousand thanks to my wonderful friend Sari, who is my editor for this fic. She writes amazing stories ;3 You can read them at https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4082287/Celestial-Eight !

The last thing he remembered was lying in bed, trying his best to finally fall asleep. He hadn’t slept well in a while, and once he actually managed to fall asleep, he usually woke up on the ground next to his bed, or dangling down from the side of it. His head always hurt when he was awake, and he felt more tired with each passing night.

But none of this explained what he was doing here of all places. Adrien Agreste, the model and hero of Paris, was dressed in his leathery superhero suit, and he wasn’t inside of his own room either. How the hell did he get here?

The teenager slowly scratched his head behind his cat ears and looked around. He was clearly not in a neighbourhood he was familiar with. None of these rooftops looked like those he knew from his night patrols with Ladybug, yet he could see the distant glow of the Eiffel Tower from where he was. He was sitting on some kind of balcony, in front of a small table and a deckchair. Thanks to his night vision he could see the flowers and plants that were almost everywhere on this rooftop, and he could faintly smell the roses that were blooming a few metres away. He couldn’t see a door leading to the balcony he was on, only a small window on the ground. He crept closer to it, careful that he didn’t make a sound. He wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway – so why shouldn’t he at least try to find out where he was, and why he was here?

Adrien leaned over the window frame and looked down into the room. At first, all he could make out in the pale moonlight illuminating the room was a mixture of pink and violet hues, and then he could spot a human body in-between pastel coloured sheets. A girl, to be precise. Adrien flinched back. He recognised this delicate shape of a teenage girl which the covers barely hid. Her shimmering, black hair that she usually wore in cute pigtails was now dishevelled and ruffled. The pinkish lips which often carried a smile were parted slightly and the blue eyes that always sparkled like sapphires were closed, hidden from the world, in a distant dream. He knew who she was – yet for a moment he wasn’t quite sure by which name he should call the person lying there. There were two names on the tip of his tongue…

“Marinette,” he concluded after a few seconds. Of course it was Marinette, who else would it be? He leaned over the window again and gazed at her. He knew what he was doing was incredibly creepy, and if she ever caught him staring at her like this, she would see him in a completely different light. For a moment Chat Noir even forgot that this wouldn’t affect his alter ego, Marinette’s classmate Adrien, but he still wouldn’t be able to look her in the eyes… probably. “Not that she even _lets_ _me_ look into her eyes,” he mumbled and grinned, remembering how the teenage girl always froze and stuttered and turned away whenever he tried to talk to her. Yet now she was completely silent and calm, and her face looked serene and relaxed while she was sleeping. Watching her soothed him and made a warmth spread inside his chest that he hadn’t felt for a very long time. He crouched down on the balcony’s floor and rested his chin on his hands. Lying on Marinette’s rooftop, staring down at the girl and then up to the stars, then down again… all of this calmed him like nothing else. It made him forget about all the loneliness at home. About the Akuma problem Paris apparently had. About his unrequited love.

Marinette slowly shifted in her sleep and faced the wall, her back turned towards the room. Her lips curled into a soft smile, before they slightly parted again as if she wanted to say something. The window over her head was closed, so Adrien couldn’t hear what she mumbled, but just to see her smile like this in her sleep made the comfortable heat in his chest grow, burning all his worries away. The boy himself couldn’t help but smile at this adorable image right in front of his eyes. Even though he had never had those kinds of feelings for his classmate, at this very moment he almost wished to lie in the same warm bed and curl up next to Marinette. If he was ever asked to define the word “cosy”, he would use the picture right in front his eyes to describe it. He was sure that he would finally be able to sleep if he could rest between those pastel coloured sheets.

The sleeping beauty closed her lips again and pressed her face into the pillow as if she was trying to kiss it. Before Adrien knew what he was doing, he started giggling and shoved a hand in front of his mouth to quieten the laughter. His lean form still shaking with restrained but silent laughter, he fixed his gaze on Marinette again who was having a very intense make-out session with her cushion at that moment. Adrien bit down on his knuckles as this was the only way to keep himself from bursting with laughter. This was beyond adorable. He would never have imagined that Marinette, of all people, had such vivid dreams. ‘And loves her pillow that much,’ he added in his thoughts while Marinette’s rendezvous with the cushion went on for a few more seconds. When she finally sunk back and a silly but satisfied grin appeared on her lips, Adrien finally lost it and yet another snort escaped his lips. This girl was really something special.

He took in a deep breath and tried to calm down, afraid he might have woken her. But instead of Marinette, the sheets behind her back started moving – and a few seconds later the girl’s eyes were wide open. She sat upright in her bed and looked at the place where the sheets had moved, said something and then searched her dark room for whatever she expected to see there. For once he was a lucky cat, since she didn’t look up immediately, or she might have seen a pair of gleaming emeralds staring back at her from the night sky. Even if the lights were low and she didn’t have night vision, she still might have made out the dark shadow looming over her window – and who knows how much this could have scared poor, sleepy Marinette.

Before the black haired girl could see him, he pulled away from the window and jumped on top of the handrail. He could hear a rumbling noise from the room underneath the balcony, then it was quiet again. But Adrien decided he had been creepy enough for a lifetime. ‘I should go home before I scare her to death,’ he thought to himself and started his journey back home, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, towards the Eiffel Tower.

‘What woke her up, though?’ he started wondering while he was running, almost flying through the chilly night air. Did she have a cat? Now that he thought about it, Marinette definitely looked like a cat person to him. Someone like her probably even let their beloved cat sleep in the same bed with them. Adrien grinned at the thought of a completely different cat lying in her bed next to a sleeping Marinette, and he tried to imagine the pure shock on her face when she woke up and found none other than Chat Noir where her cat had been before. He imagined himself smirking and saying: “Good morning, purr-incess.” And he couldn’t help but laugh joyfully while he landed on top of the gate leading to the Agreste estate.

Sneaking back into his room, he realised the night sky had changed from black to lighter shades of blue. Soon it would be dawn, and he hadn’t slept much. In fact, he still didn’t know why he had been at Marinette’s house in the first place. Once he had entered his room, he quickly closed the window he apparently had left open and released the transformation. A small, exhausted figure fell down on the floor and groaned.

“Plagg!” Adrien almost gasped in shock when the kwami slowly opened his eyes and gave him an accusatory look. The blond boy knew that the tiny creature was exaggerating, like always, but this time he needed his cooperation. He grabbed the box full of cheese he always kept close to his desk and held a triangular piece of camembert in front of the kwami’s eyes. Never before had anyone been so quick to his feet again – or rather back in the air, since Plagg literally jumped towards the cheese and held onto it for dear life.

“Plagg, why was I at Marinette’s house tonight?” Now, that he had the kwami’s attention, he had to keep it. He needed an answer to this mystery.

But Plagg gave him a puzzled look instead. “What do you mean? I don’t nyau where you went! You were the one who woke me up in the middle of the night and …” He yawned loudly, as if to emphasise his claim, before he continued. “And then you told me to transform you into Chat Noir. You didn’t say why, and I was tired, so I just did. Now let me get back to this,” Plagg said, facing the cheese in his miniature arms and caressed it like a loved one – right before he gulped it down as a whole.

Adrien rolled his eyes and sighed. That wasn’t the answer he had wanted to hear, yet it explained at least a few things. “I must have been sleepwalking,” he mumbled and dropped down on his bed. It was the only explanation he had for now. Sleepwalking… of all things that could have happened, his sleepless nights had led to _this_.

But why had it led him to Marinette? Adrien laid down on his back and closed his eyes. He tried to contemplate at first, but to be honest, he didn’t even care for now. He only knew that he was extremely tired, and felt surprisingly calm for the first time in weeks. He would have to get up in a few hours, but he was sure he could finally come to rest now.

It was the first time in a long while that he actually slept well.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks to Sari for helping me make this story sound so much better~ I couldn't do it without you, hun <3
> 
> And finally there's some MariChat interaction. I honestly love writing their dialogues! It's so much fun!!

Do you know that feeling? You’ve known someone for a long time, and you’ve never really cared about them before – and then suddenly something happens, something tiny and insignificant. And you catch yourself thinking: “Man, I want to be that person’s friend.”

That’s what Adrien felt like when he woke up. He dragged himself out of his big bed and into the even bigger bathroom to take a look at his face. He seemed surprisingly well rested, despite the few hours of sleep. “Thanks to Marinette, I guess,” he mumbled and snorted. Yes, what had happened yesterday had been really weird, and he should probably worry about his sleepwalking – but he didn’t really care. Instead of pondering about the problems that might occur should these nightly detours continue, his mind drifted back to Marinette’s sleeping face, and the warm, soothing feeling she had awakened in him. And now that he thought about it: Marinette had always been a nice, energetic, lovely person. She could calm anyone down who was in a rage; she could cheer everyone up; she could do so much without even noticing it herself. But for some reason this always changed whenever she stood in front of him. The black-haired girl always turned into a mess and twisted her tongue when she tried to talk to him – and then she usually froze or ran away. Weird. She hadn’t been like this when he’d met her as Chat Noir about a year ago.

That’s why he thought that he wanted to become her friend. He wanted to have a share in the positive energy that girl emitted wherever she went. The warmth that hid in her smile and the fire that was burning inside of her. Yet the boy had no idea how to do it. He hadn’t managed to become her friend in the two years they had been in the same class, and given the fact that she was unable to speak clearly in front of him, it didn’t seem like an easy task. For a moment he considered getting closer to her in the disguise of Chat Noir, but scrapped that idea immediately. What reason to talk to her did he have as Chat? None particularly. He needed to talk to her as Adrien Agreste, her classmate. But how?

“Are you planning to stare at your face for another two hours, or can I finally get something to eat in the next few minutes?” A scratchy voice right next to his ear pulled him back into reality. Plagg was sitting on his left shoulder, rubbing his eyes and then glaring at the blond boy’s reflection in the mirror. “I’m hungry!” he exclaimed again, before he floated off, back into Adrien’s room. The teenage boy sighed, quickly brushed his hair and walked back into his room to prepare the kwami’s cheesy breakfast.

 

“Do you have a cat?” It was the first thing that came to his mind when he turned around in the classroom to face Marinette. Like usual, the girl froze in place and gaped at him, azure eyes wide open. Once she seemed to come back to her senses, she slowly shook her head and closed her open mouth. She gulped, and finally managed to speak up. “N-n-no, why do you ask? Why w-would you thi-think I…?” Okay, “speak” probably wasn’t the right word. She stuttered, gazing at everything in the room that wasn’t him. Weird, really weird, this girl…

“Just wondering,” he replied and shrugged. The thought that had come to him last night had left his lips before he could think about something else to say to her. “You just seem like a cat person to me,” he added and smiled his usual “Adrien smile”. He watched her face turn as red as the roses on her balcony.

“A… a cat person? S-sure, I like cats, I mean, _some_ cats, not _all_ cats, but…” Her friend Alya nudged her and mumbled something, followed by a cheeky grin. Marinette glared at her, before she looked down at her hands on the table as if they were the most interesting thing in the whole wide world. Adrien waited patiently. “Why do you even want to know?” she asked eventually, ogling him sheepishly.

‘Why not?’ he thought and shrugged his shoulders again. “Just trying to make conversation,” he said instead. Marinette’s face disappeared behind her hands which she pressed against her cheeks and eyes, as if she were trying to hide from him. Why did she always act like that? Did she dislike him so much? Was she afraid of him? Or was it something else?

He gave up on this failed attempt to converse and turned around to face the blackboard again. Besides, the teacher had entered the room a few seconds ago and he probably should start paying attention. He could hear Alya muttering something under her breath and sighing, and an annoyed squeal from Marinette, before they both became silent and listened to whatever the teacher had to say.

Adrien himself didn’t listen despite his focused look and the polite smile on his face. His thoughts were elsewhere. The blond boy could vaguely feel his friend Nino’s gaze on him while he was trying to reconsider what he was supposed to do about Marinette.

Maybe he should just give up. It had been a stupid wish to begin with, an ill-conceived idea he had after waking up. And after creepily watching a girl sleep in her bed, making out with a pillow. Adrien had to suppress a snort at this thought. Yep, he definitely was weird and creepy. Even weirder than Marinette, probably.

But he couldn’t just give up that easily. He had to do something. At least this time he shouldn’t give up on what he wanted. He had given up so many times, because his father had told him to or because it just didn’t fit his image.

But not this time. Not again.

 

It was easier said than done. The day had passed and the night was already lingering at the far horizon, yet Adrien still had no idea what to do. Maybe he really had to let Chat do the talking. At least in front of _him_ the girl acted normal.

That was what he had thought, but he hadn’t planned for it to happen so soon. Yet the same night he found himself back on Marinette’s balcony, after he had clearly fallen asleep in his bed.

Sleepwalking. _Again_! The boy sighed and jumped off the white box he sat crouched on. Still sleepy-eyed and not fully awake, he missed the spot and staggered against the table in front of him. The teapot and cups sitting on it started swaying, and even though he still caught the teapot and one of the cups, he couldn’t get a hold of the second one. It fell to the ground and made a loud, rattling noise as rolled over the wooden tiles, eventually coming to a stop in front of the balustrade. Adrien squinted and bit his lower lip while he watched the cup on its journey over the balcony floor. If this didn’t wake Marinette up, then she was probably not even in her room.

He wasn’t lucky, though, not today. He heard a creaking sound from the window, and before he could retreat a pair of heavy-lidded eyes stared in his direction. He froze in place and could only do so much as to stare at her in return, the glowing green orbs wide with surprise. Some breathless seconds passed, the silence between them almost deafening, and then something seemed to click in Marinette’s mind. She squeaked and shut the window immediately.

There was no turning back now, not if he wanted to work this out somehow. He couldn’t risk that she was afraid of _both_ of his personas. He had to say something to her – at least say sorry that he scared her, or explain that he wasn’t just some weirdo stalking her in the night. (Well, technically he was, but it hadn’t been completely _his_ fault.)

“Hey, princess!” he purred and knocked at the window. Said window flew open, and there was a definitely-braver-than-expected Marinette with a thick book in her hand, which she swung at his head, trying to get rid of the weird guy on her balcony. He was quick enough to react, so she only brushed one of his cat ears, but the determined look on her face stayed. If he didn’t say something _right now_ , she would definitely do everything she could to hit him in the face, even if the book probably wasn’t heavy enough to do some harm.

“I’m sorry I woke you up, princess. I didn’t mean to scare you, I swear on my life!” He pressed one of his paws to his chest while he raised the other as if taking a vow. Apparently it helped his cause, since Marinette lowered the book in her hands.

“Then what the heck are you doing here in the middle of the night? It’s almost 3am, for god’s sake!”

For a few seconds he stared at the black-haired girl with wide eyes. Such harsh words were rare for Marinette, as far as he knew. But then again, he didn’t know much about her in the first place. She would never talk to Adrien like this. Chat Noir was almost tempted to tease her and find out if she could be even harsher.

“Oh, I’m just on night patrol. Everything’s fine here, don’t worry. No criminals and evil masterminds are in this area. You can sleep without a worry, princess.”

Said princess just raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Well, I see at least one criminal right in front of me. I still don’t know why you are vandalising my poor balcony!”

Chat, who had been sitting on his knees, leaned back and looked at the indigo sky. “I didn’t do anything. I just came here and happened to stumble, that’s all. You can’t blame this poor cat for not seeing clearly at night, can you?”

The girl narrowed her eyes and seemed even less convinced. “Cats have night vision, don’t they?” she asked in a tone that sounded more like a declaration than a question. Chat just chuckled at this.

“Well, who knows?” he replied and jumped to his feet. “Mind to join me under the stars, now that I woke you up, sleeping beauty?”

If he had said something like this as Adrien, Marinette would have turned into a blushing mess. But now that he was Chat Noir, the girl just rolled her eyes and climbed out of the window. While she walked towards him, he became aware of how odd and even stupid his offer had actually been. This was _her_ territory, after all, and she could just as easily tell him to leave. And yet he, almost a complete stranger to her, invited the girl to spend some time with him on this rooftop, of all places. But she didn’t drive him off, as if she felt completely secure in his presence, and he was grateful for that.

Once she stood next to him and glared at his (for her probably obnoxious) grin, he realised for the first time how much taller than her he had become. When he was Adrien, he could never really tell how small she was compared to him, for her first instinct was to flee his presence or literally shrink back to a stuttering mess whenever he got close to her. But now… It was really adorable. Tired, pouting, petite Marinette, standing right beside him, then in front of him, and finally leaning against the balustrade. She looked so different in the dark, her face aglow with moonlight, strands of black hair framing it. She looked amazingly pretty, he had to admit. He had never seen her this way before.

“Mind telling me what you’re _really_ doing here?” she eventually broke the silence. Chat tilted his head.

“I don’t know what you mean, princess. I told you, I’m on patrol.”

“Without Ladybug?” she asked warily. It was clear that she didn’t believe him one bit.

“Oh, Ladybug is here. She’s just a bit farther away. She’s checking the area over… there!” he said, pointing towards the shimmering Eiffel Tower. Yet the creases on Marinette’s forehead stayed and became even worse.

“…Sure,” she mumbled. Something in her eyes told him that he either was a bad liar or that she knew more than he was aware of. But no matter what it was, she just shook her head and said: “If you don’t want to tell me the truth, then I guess it’s alright. Just… don’t be a weirdo, okay? I need some sleep. I have school tomorrow.”

“Ah, me too. So don’t worry. I’ll go home as soon as I’m done… patrolling.”

“…yeah, sure.”

But nonetheless, neither of them moved. Marinette still stood there, leaning against the handrail and giving Chat a questioning look. He caught himself giving the girl a rare honest smile as the chilly night air crept over this skin. The boy’s gaze wandered over the balcony and the night sky until it finally rested on Marinette's clear blue, narrowed eyes again. That’s how it was for a few minutes, before Marinette finally decided it was time to do something.

“Look, _monsieur_ Chat Noir, it’s getting really cold outside and I really need to get back to bed. If you honestly need to stay on my balcony and do your ‘patrol’, then I won’t stop you. Just don’t be a nutcase and watch me sleep, okay?” With those words she pushed herself away from the balustrade and went over to the window. Chat was overcome with a sudden urge to stop her, to grab her hand and hold onto it, but she passed him too quickly. Aside from that, he had seen Marinette’s outfit – and it was obvious that the poor girl must be freezing outside. She was wearing a light blue shirt, far too big for her tiny body, and a loose pair of black shorts beneath it. Not the right outfit for a night in autumn.

“Alright, princess. Goodnight,” he mumbled and jumped on the handrail while she climbed back into her room.

“Goodnight!” she replied before she closed the window and was gone. Adrien smiled one last time in her direction, before he jumped down from the balcony and fled into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the kudos and comments <3 Knowing that people read and actually enjoy my writing is the best motivation there is!

After that night, and an angry talk with Plagg in the morning, Adrien and his kwami decided it would be best to just lock the windows in the evening, and – whatever Adrien was to say to Plagg – the kwami was not allowed to transform him after sunset without a good reason.

“But you begged me to transform you again,” the kwami said, pouting, “You promised me you were awake!”

“Well, I obviously wasn’t,” Adrien responded with a sigh. “Didn’t anything about the way I talked or looked at you seem weird? It must have!” Adrien had done his research. Sleepwalkers’ eyes were supposed to be wide open, their gaze cloudy and lifeless. It was surprising enough that he had been able to talk clearly while he was sleepwalking, but that Plagg hadn’t realised how weird he must have acted was something Adrien could not believe. Yet on the other hand, the kwami was probably just tired and not in for a discussion, when all he wanted was to sleep.

“Just don’t listen to me next time, and take care that the windows stay closed. I don’t want to scare Marinette again,” the blond boy muttered, while he packed his bag for school.

It was a Friday, and the first cold day in autumn. It wasn’t surprising that Marinette had been freezing last night on the balcony, although the chilly air back then had apparently only been a foretaste of what was to come the next day, when an even cooler climate had taken its reign over Paris while ice-cold breezes were chasing down the few people who dared to leave their homes after sunrise. Adding to the harsh weather, it started raining the moment Adrien left the warmth of the car which had stopped in front of his school. He hurried inside and closed the door behind him, trying to stop the cold from entering alongside him.

A loud shriek greeted him, and he recognised Chloe’s voice immediately. This day came thick and fast with _pleasant_ surprises, obviously…

“Good mooorning, Adrien,” she said in a tone that was far too loud for his aching head.

“Good morning, Chloe,” he muttered and tried to walk past her. But the blonde grabbed his arm and dragged him towards their classroom, talking about her hair, new shoes and many other things Adrien didn’t really care about. She might have been his only friend during childhood, but that didn’t change the fact that she was the last person he wanted to think about right now.

From the corner of his eye he saw Marinette and Alya entering the building. They were still meters away from him, but nonetheless he could faintly hear the brunette ask her friend why she looked so tired. Marinette yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes. “I slept terribly,” she mumbled. Her hair was tidier than it was last night, yet it lacked his usual gloss. It gave the impression that she overslept this morning and had to hurry to school, without being able to fix her hair the way she usually did. A guilty smile flashed over the boy’s face. He knew for certain that it was his fault when Marinette added: “Something woke me up in the middle of the night.”

Adrien stopped walking and didn’t even realise that Chloe let go of his arm to complain about his ignorance towards her. His gaze was focused on the two girls in front of the main entrance and he tried his best to understand what they were talking about.

“What woke you up, though? Did something happen?” Alya sounded worried and put an arm around Marinette’s shoulders to comfort her in case she needed it. But the black-haired girl just shook her head and grimaced. “It’s nothing bad, really. It was just…” She paused, her brows furrowed and wrinkles formed on her pretty face.

“…a cat,” she replied after a few seconds of consideration. “A cat knocked over the cups in my balcony table,” she explained and yawned again, “Jawst an annowwing cat.” Adrien couldn’t blame her for calling him annoying. Even if it hadn’t been his intention to disturb Sleeping Beauty, it had been his fault for waking her from her silent slumber.

“So you got a cat, after all,” Alya added, laughing. Marinette gave her a confused look before it clicked and she realised that her friend was referring to her failed conversation with Adrien the day before.

“Nooo, it was just a stray cat, and you know that. Jeez, Alya…”

After saying this, Marinette finally looked up and realised that they had been walking directly towards Adrien and Chloe. The varied set of emotions displayed on Marinette’s face in just a few seconds were really something the teenage boy had never noticed before: First, her eyes grew wide in shock as she realised how close they were to the other pair; then she looked angry as she glared at Chloe, then him, and back to Chloe; and last but not least she gaped at Adrien and blushed, her cheeks tinged in the same red colour he had so often seen on her face when he had tried to talk to her as “Adrien” instead of “Chat Noir”. The boy had no idea what he was supposed to think of that.

“Good morning, Alya and… Marinette?” His greeting sounded more like a question due to his confusion. The black-haired girl’s reply was just some unintelligible gibberish.

“Excuse _you_ , Marinette?!” Chloe’s harsh voice cut in, “I was just talking to Adrien, so please excuse us!” She grabbed his arm again and forced him to follow her into the classroom. It would be useless to resist at this moment, so Adrien gave in with a sigh. He glanced over his shoulder while he was dragged away and gave the two girls an apologetic look. ‘You know how Chloe is,’ he wanted to say, but instead he just grimaced and followed the blonde’s lead. Besides, nothing more would come out of this “conversation” he just had with Marinette. He would have to try again as Chat Noir some other time.

 

“You told me that I shouldn’t transform you at night!” Plagg’s voice sounded irritated, but Adrien just shook his head.

“No, I mean… Look, I meant you shouldn’t transform me in the _middle of the night_. It’s still early evening. It’s okay now!”

“Why do you even want to transform? There is no Akuma attack, and the next night patrol is supposed to be on Sunday. So why…?”

“Look, you can get all the cheese you want once I’m back. Just transform me. I need to pay someone a visit.”

Plagg’s big eyes narrowed and his mouth turned into a broad grin. “And with ‘someone’ you mean that adorable classmate of yours, yes? The ‘uh-ah-I-I-ca-can’t-speak’ girl, right?”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “And what if that’s the case? You know exactly where I’ve been the last two nights, so I guess it should be obvious that I need to apologise to her at least once when I’m not there by _accident_. Or she might think I’m a stalker or something!”

“And she won’t think that when you appear at her house for the third night in a row? Of course,” the kwami said with a snort and flew towards Adrien’s ring. “But alright, knock yourself out. As long as I get a lot of cheese afterwards!”

“Thank you, Plagg. Transform me!”

It was not long thereafter that Chat Noir was chasing over the rooftops of Paris again, his dark suit merging with the dusk of the early evening hours. The bite of cold autumn air on his face, the drumming heartbeat in his chest and ears, the dim blurs of lights passing from the corners of his green eyes… it all told him that he was most definitely awake this time. And yet it still felt like sleepwalking when he made his way to Marinette’s home once more. His feet found the way effortlessly, without thinking, without hesitating. Like he had taken this road a thousand times before.

 

“Princess! Hey, princess!” Looking down at her room, Adrien could only see Marinette’s bed, but not the girl herself. He heard a loud crash from inside, something that sounded a lot like a huffed “goddamnit!” and then the pitter-patter of bare feet on the stairs leading to her bed.

He withdrew from the window to wait for Marinette, and after mere seconds it slowly opened and his classmate’s head peaked out if it. Her hair was unkempt and she was obviously preparing to go to bed. When she recognised Chat, her azure eyes grew wide and her mouth flew open.

“What are you doing here… _again_?” she asked nervously. She clearly hadn’t expected he would return, at least not so soon. And she definitely wasn’t prepared to meet a boy in this outfit and with this hairdo. He didn’t know much about Marinette as a person, but he was aware that she cared about her clothes and hair at least so much that she always looked nice and pretty. But now she was dressed in a white sweater that, once again, was too big for her and had a cute cat face painted on it. From what little he could see below the window from his position, Adrien thought for a moment that she wasn’t wearing any pants and almost turned away ashamed. But he realised soon enough that she actually wore a pair of black shorts with a floral pattern under her large sweater. ‘Boyfriend look,’ he thought and couldn’t hide a grin. She looked adorable in this outfit, downright huggable, and he had to resist the urge to pat her head as she stared at him like a scared little kitten. But a sight like this wasn’t meant for his eyes, and he knew he shouldn’t stare.

“Seriously, what are you doing here?” she asked again, since he had left her in lieu of a reply to her question.

“What am I… oh, right!” He looked away from her cute sweater and tried to fix his eyes on her messy hair. He hadn’t noticed right way that she wasn’t wearing her trademark pigtails this time. It was weird to see her like this, a few rebellious strands curling up towards her chin, and a lone flick of black hair hanging in front of her eyes. On the spur of the moment she blew it away, just to have it fall back into her face again. Adrien grinned at what he saw. She looked really pretty with her hair down, and much more mature, despite the adorable and almost childlike outfit.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry… again. For yesterday. I really didn’t want to scare you. I heard you couldn’t sleep well afterwards. And I’m sorry about that.”

“I…” Marinette began to say, but then she stopped and furrowed her brows. “Wait, how do you know about that? Who told you?”

Adrien gulped. Of course, he was not supposed to know that as Chat Noir, neither as Adrien. “A… friend told me. They say you looked really tired at school today, princess,” he finally explained with his usual grin.

The girl’s brows knitted even more. “You’re a terrible liar, you know that? But like I said yesterday: If you don’t want to tell the truth, there’s not much I can do about it.”

She lowered herself down on her bed again, looking up to the boy staring down at her. “…Do you need something else?” she asked when Chat didn’t make a move to leave.

“Oh! No, princess, that is all,” he replied quickly. “I was just wondering what your room looks like from the inside. I don’t mind that I only know your bed so far, but it would be nice to see the rest of it.”

He meant it as an honest thought, so he realised too late how suggestive his words might have sounded to Marinette. At this very moment he felt like a total creep, and was relieved that at least his classmate only knew part of the story – if she knew about his first night on her balcony when she was still asleep, she probably wouldn’t tarry for a single moment and shut the hatch straightaway. Yet Adrien only caught her giving him a short, piercing look, before she closed her brilliant blue eyes and sighed as she pointed towards the window over her head.

“But close the door once you’re inside,” she muttered and climbed down the stairs leading back into her room.

For a moment Chat hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to make Marinette feel uncomfortable after he had just apologised to her. Nonetheless, he felt himself drawn towards the warm and friendly room of this adorable yet surprisingly sarcastic girl. She reminded him of Ladybug, the woman he called the love of his life. And Marinette seemed to shine almost as much as her. He couldn’t believe he had never before realised the similarities between his lady and his princess. Ladybug was like the sun, and he wanted to stand in her light even if he could never be close to her. Marinette was just as radiant as her, but unlike his lady she was within his reach and much more… well, human. This epiphany drew him closer to Marinette, creating a longing for a kind of intimacy even he couldn’t define. Marinette was like a warm summer day full of vibrant colours, full of life; and the reasons why he wanted to stand in her glowing light multiplied with each passing night.

Once he landed on the girl’s bed, he had a good view over the room. Everything was light and pink, and generally warm and cosy. He had to acknowledge that it was even better than he had imagined. It fitted Marinette perfectly; it was cute, charming and tidy, tinged with different hues of pink, rose and violet. And compared to his own room, which was far too big for his liking, it was small and convenient.

“Is it so horrible that you’re speechless, kitty?” he heard Marinette’s voice from the corner under her bed. He chuckled as he climbed down and approached her.

“You got it wrong, princess,” he explained and patted her head, “it is absolutely stunning. I was at a loss for words.”

For the first time as Chat Noir, he saw her face turn slightly red. He didn’t know if this was because of his compliment, or the pat on her head, or even because of how close he was standing to her...

“Mind giving me some space to breathe, Chat Noir?” she asked after a few seconds had passed and the boy hadn’t shown any intention of moving away from her. With a mumbled “sorry” he stepped aside and took in the rest of the room. He was facing the wall under Marinette’s bed, and was suddenly aware of the pictures that were all across it: Adrien Agreste, Adrien Agreste and Adrien Agreste. Oh, and Adrien Agreste – literally everywhere.

“I had no idea you were a fan,” he said with a grin, and quickly added, “of the Agreste boy.”

Marinette grimaced, and Chat had no idea what this was supposed to tell him. All those pictures on the wall and the bewildered look on her face didn’t fit together.

“Yeah, I guess you could call me a _fan_ ,” she sighed and rolled her eyes, “But he probably thinks I’m crazy. I’m too stupid to even talk to him.” Marinette had been pacing her room aimlessly and suddenly stopped in front of a tailor’s dummy that was clothed in a cute, white yet unfinished dress. “Why am I even telling you this?” she asked and glared at Chat who just shrugged.

“Maybe you finally realised that you can trust your knight in shining armour, my dear princess?”

“We met, like, twice!” she grumbled and turned towards her couch, where she sat down after staring at the wall for a few seconds with a blank look on her face. Something about the way she had given voice to her thoughts seemed like a lie to him, but he couldn’t put his claw on it.

“That might be true, princess,” he said and tried to smile reassuringly at her, “but to be honest, I don’t believe that this guy thinks you’re crazy. No one could think that. I’m positive that everyone you know truly likes you.”

“Oh, you’ve never met Chloe then,” she muttered under her breath and Adrien had to hide a grin. Of course, he had forgotten about Chloe. But Chloe disliked anyone who wasn’t herself or Adrien, so she didn’t count. He wouldn’t even be surprised when Chloe turned out to be Hawkmoth herself, since she appeared to be the cause of most akumatised villains.

“Yeah, no, that doesn’t count. The mayor’s daughter is something completely different. She _definitely_ doesn’t count.” Marinette raised her head and gazed at Chat with something that appeared to be gratitude. Her pretty blue eyes were gleaming again and her pinkish lips slowly curled up into a smile. Never before had she bestowed Adrien with such a beautiful sight.

“Thanks, kitty,” she said, and the way she uttered those words reminded him of Ladybug even more.

“I’m just telling the truth. Besides… that’s what a knight is there for: to make his princess feel safe, secure and happy. So if you should ever need me,” he added with a wink, “just project the Cat-signal at the sky and your dark knight will be right at your side.”

“Very funny!” Marinette tried to sound annoyed, but he could hear the chuckle she tried so hard to suppress.

Chat felt a tinge of regret that he could never talk to Marinette like this when he was Adrien. He wanted to see her smile and grin, listen to her friendly and sarcastic voice every day of his life. Maybe it was because it reminded him of Ladybug, and maybe thinking like this was selfish – but what did it matter? It wasn’t like either of them would ever be able to read his thoughts. Besides, regardless of why he craved Marinette’s presence, he wished for it wholeheartedly, and he knew that he would have to think of new excuses to see her again from now on.

He would think of them when it was time, he was sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monsieur Chat "I am vengeance, I am the knight, I am Cat-man" Noir. I wanted to make the stupid Batman stupid joke for a while now, so I'm not even sorry for it x'D
> 
> Feel free to talk to me about MariChat or the show in general on my twitter, if you want to~ It's @justSaoto <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I prefer writing from Adrien's point of view, but there are some things that simply can't be told from one POV alone ;D So, first chapter from Marinette's perspective incoming! ＼(￣▽￣)／  
> (And once again, thanks for the comments and kudos! They make me so incredibly happy! (/▽＼*)｡o○♡ )

A week had passed since Marinette had been visited by Chat Noir for the second time. She had met him a few times in her superhero form since then – for night patrols and an Akuma fight – but he hadn’t acted that much different around her. He might have given her a confused look once in a while, but she was sure that he couldn’t connect the dots. After all, Ladybug and Marinette were two completely different persons, as she saw it. She would never be as cool as Ladybug when she was Marinette. Never.

Nonetheless, the way Chat had talked to her when he had been in her room still stuck to her. He had been surprisingly honest and nice. ‘And maybe, just maybe,’ she thought, ‘he might have been more honest to Ladybug than I thought before.’

“Tikki, what do you think?” she asked and petted the tiny, red kwami on the head.

“About Chat Noir?” Tikki responded and considered her reply for a moment. “I think he finds your presence comforting. As Marinette, at least. As Ladybug, he’s head over heels for you.”

“Do you really think that? I think he’s just playing around,” the girl muttered, resting her head on the desk in her room while her arms were dangling down at the sides.

“Marinette,” the kwami said in a melodious tone, “I’ve told you many times before: I think he tells the truth when he is with Ladybug. I think he really likes you.”

“He likes _Ladybug_ ,” the teenager snorted, “ _Marinette_ is probably just one of his flirts. I don’t even know why he got here in the first place. The whole thing with the ‘patrol’ is nonsense, and we both know that. And unless he isn’t a stalker at my school, he probably wouldn’t have heard about my conversation with Alya that morning. There was no one there besides us and…” She paused, remembering the two other people who had been standing close to them in the school hall. A shocking thought started to materialise in her mind, but even suggesting it seemed hilariously wrong and at the same time horrifying to her, so she quickly discarded the idea. “Nevermind. But yes, he might be nice – I’m just not sure I can trust him. Not as Marinette, at least. As Ladybug…” She gulped and squinted her eyes shut as she slightly raised her head and rested her chin on the desk, massaging her temples with her fingers. All these thoughts running berserk in her mind were too much for her tired brain. “I’d trust him with my life. But Ladybug is not ‘me’.” She ruffled her hair wildly and let out an annoyed sigh, pressing her nose and forehead back against the cold wooden tabletop. “I just want to know why he was here that first night!”

“Please don’t get so agitated, Marinette,” Tikki tried to calm her down, “You should just try to sleep and forget about it. It’s easier to think about this when you’re well rested.”

“Yes, mom,” Marinette grumbled and climbed the stairs to her bed. She snuggled down in the sheets and hugged her giant cat plushie for comfort. It felt weird hugging a cat when she had spent the last days thinking about Chat Noir, but her beloved Mr. Cat had been there so much longer than her partner, and she wasn’t willing to give up on that just because some stupid cat boy was giving her a hard time.

“It’s alright,” she said, more to herself than the kwami, “Goodnight, Tikki.” She could feel how Tikki’s tiny body nestled up to her, and finally the girl fell asleep with a smile on her face.

 

Marinette’s dream was stranger than usual. In her dream she was chasing after a black cat that was leading her to Wonderland, always making stupid puns and Batman references, and then she met a giant caterpillar that looked a lot like her Mr. Cat plushie. After that, she ran around for what felt like hours, without rhyme or reasons, completely aimless, and eventually fell through the frozen surface of an ice-cold river. Once she got out of it, she was shivering all over. Her nose was tickling, and at last she had to sneeze.

That’s what woke her up. Her nose was cold and her blankets were only covering her lower body. And what made everything worse was that the window over her bed was wide open.

She was sure she had closed it before she went to sleep. She wouldn’t be so stupid to let her window open with the cold autumn weather lurking outside, would she?

“Tikki!” she whispered into the darkness. Her eyes weren’t used to the gloomy twilight of room yet, and the lone moonbeam barely illuminating the bed wasn’t helping at all. “Tikki, where are you? Did you open my…”

She heard a hissing sound from behind her back and swung around. It was the kwami, and she was shaking her head in surprise while her right hand pointed to the other side of the bed, the left hand covering her tiny mouth to keep herself from squeaking.

Something big, something black was lying there right next to Marinette. Bleary-eyed and still half-asleep she hadn’t seen it in the dark before – but there it was.

And she screamed. She was scared and shocked, and tried grabbing Tikki in case she needed Ladybug’s help. But the red kwami quickly flew out of reach and hid in the bookshelf over her head, squeezing her small body between the volumes of “Harry Potter” and “Gone with the Wind”. She had recognised the thing lying there.

Or rather the person.

Two green irises encircled by a black mask slowly unfolded to Marinette. The boy batted his eyelids, once, twice, and tried to understand what had woken him up. Puzzled, the teenager lying next to Marinette tried to sit up and stared at her in a daze. He could hardly keep his sleepy eyes open. His ruffled hair fell into his face and he had to push it away in order to perceive the room he woke up in.

“Marinette? What are you… am I dreaming?” Chat Noir didn’t sound like Chat Noir at all. He sounded like someone else, but the drowsy girl couldn’t put her finger on it. All she knew at this very moment was that he was just as confused as she was. But that didn’t change the fact that _he_ was the one who was lying in a bed he wasn’t supposed to be in.

“What do you mean? What am _I_ doing here?! This is _my_ room, so why are _you_ in it?!”

Chat sat up immediately and fled to the other end of the bed, almost toppling over the corner in the process and solely stopping himself from tumbling down the stairs by grabbing the rail. He drew his legs towards his body as if he wanted to stay as far away from the girl as possible, one hand still pressing into the metal railing and holding unto it for dear life. She could almost hear his heart beat loudly and rapidly, as his mouth quickly opened and closed again, completely bereft of speech. He stared at Marinette in shock, but as he looked down at his paws, relief spread over his face and his limbs finally relaxed. She had no idea why he should be at ease, but she sure as hell wasn’t.

“Out of my bed!” she hissed, “ _Out of my damn bed!_ ”

Before she had uttered the phrase a second time he had already stumbled down the stairs and his feet were planted firmly on the ground in front of her loft bed.

“I’m so sorry, I swear I have no idea how I…”

Marinette’s pillow hit him right in the face. ‘So much for catlike reflexes,’ she thought and watched as he tried to compose himself. His eyes scanned the room and according to the look on his face he finally understood what had happened. ‘Well, good for him,’ Marinette thought angrily, ‘because I still have no idea about what’s going on!’ She grabbed for another pillow, but only found Mr. Cat. At this moment she didn’t care at all; she threw her beloved plush toy at the blond teen standing in her room.

“Marinette, I said I’m sorry! I think I can explain, but you have to stop attacking me for a minute!” When the big cat plush flew towards him, he hid his face behind his arms and jumped to the right. He stumbled over the stand of the tailor’s dummy, and even if he was lucky enough not to destroy the pretty dress Marinette was currently working on, his luck did only go so far as the mannequin fell to the ground with a loud crash. The girl flinched and knew right away that her parents were probably wide awake by now, when she hadn’t already woken them up with her scream earlier.

And she was right. She heard steps coming towards the stairs leading to her room.

“Quick, you have to hide!” she hissed at the superhero who was staring at the door on the ground in shock. He was too dazed to act for a moment, then he sprinted to the girl’s bed, crawling up the stairs like a panicked kitten. Even if Marinette was angry at her partner, she didn’t want him to be seen in her room in the middle of the night. Besides, he had said he could explain what he was doing here. And after two years of fighting by his side she was sure that she could trust him in this regard: If he said he didn’t do it on purpose, then she had to believe him.

“Lie down and hide under the blanket,” she instructed him and put the covers over both of them just in time when the door opened.

“Marinette, is everything alright? I heard a lot of noise from your room…” Her mother’s face was peeking through the crack between the hatch and the floor. Marinette sat up in her bed, careful not to reveal Chat’s hiding place right next to her.

“Sorry, did I wake you up, mum? I just got scared for a moment.” She grimaced and pointed towards the mannequin on the ground. Luckily, both pillow and Mr. Cat were lying close to it, so her excuse was working. “I left it in front of my desk, because I was working on it before I went to bed. And it scared me when I woke up just now. I thought someone was in my room!” She made an exaggerated gesture with her hands and contorted her face again.

Her mother’s grey eyes anxiously inspected the room, as if trying to reassure herself that there wasn’t someone hiding in her daughter’s room. Maybe somewhere under the bed, where the girl couldn’t see them, or behind the couch. Finding nothing like this, she resorted to asking: “But you’re okay now?”

Marinette placed her hands back on the sheets, making sure that Chat Noir was still lying down, hidden in the dark. Then she gave her mother a confident nod. “It was really scary, but I’m okay now. It was merely the mannequin. I was just about to go back to sleep, mum.”

Marinette’s mother pursed her lips and warily ogled the dummy lying on the wooden tiles. “Alright… sleep well, darling,” she whispered after a few seconds and closed the door again.

For a few minutes, the room was completely silent. When she was sure her mother had returned to her room, Marinette threw the blanket off Chat Noir’s body and glared at him. At first, he looked just as shocked as before, but then he sat up and smirked.

“Hiding in the bed of my princess… that sounds like a vaguely dirty story,” he snickered.

“Shut up, you stupid cat,” Marinette replied, but she couldn’t help but grin herself. After all, this whole scene couldn’t have been more cliché in her opinion. It was kind of funny, she had to admit.

But what still wasn’t funny was the fact that this boy had been in her bed without her allowing him to. How did he even get here? It was time for him to explain.

“Okay, and now I’m all ears. Tell me the amazing story of how you broke into my house to sleep in my bed. I mean, what would have happened if you had transformed back? I would know who you are!”

The look on his face told her that this was the last thing he was worried about.

“I was sure it wouldn’t happen again. I even locked my windows and…” The boy shook his head. “Look, I know you probably won’t believe me, but about a week ago I started sleepwalking, and I don’t know why.” She could hear that there was something more to it, but he didn’t seem ready to talk about it just yet. ‘It’s okay,’ she thought, ‘We all have our secrets.’

“That night you woke me up was the first time, I guess?” she asked. The boy stared at the wall and considered his answer for a moment. Then he replied with a simple “yes”. The long pause before his response was almost a confession that this wasn’t the whole truth.

“And tonight it happened again?” she continued asking. If he wasn’t willing to tell her by himself, she had to squeeze the information out of him on her own.

“Once again, my princess is right about this.” His voice was steady, but he had lowered his head and his eyes were hidden behind his rumpled bangs. His whole body was telling her that making her uncomfortable had never been his intention, not even once.

“Alright,” she sighed, “I believe you. Now stop looking like a kitten in the rain and turn back into the good old Chat Noir. It’s terrifying to see you like this!” She didn’t like to admit it, but him being so much… not like him – it was really horrifying. She could deal with the Chat Noir who made stupid puns and weird jokes; who flirted with her as Ladybug, and had suddenly started to get interested in Marinette as well for reasons she did not know. She could handle the Chat Noir with the almost obnoxiously good mood, the Chat Noir who always smirked and grinned. But she didn’t know what to do about the Chat Noir right in front of her. It was like someone had put out his sun – the only emotion that shone from his face now was his insecurity. It scared her, because this was just not right. It was not supposed to be like this. She wanted him back. That silly, cheerful cat.

The boy’s face lightened up like the sky at dawn when she uttered those words. She couldn’t tell what exactly made him so happy, but as long as he didn’t act like a drowned rat, she was fine with it.

“Maybe you should better lock the window from now on,” he said and pulled a face, “Or else your bewitched knight might actually scare you to death during one night, and we definitely don’t want that, do we? And neither do we want to wake the queen from her slumber once more, because your knight is a klutz, right?”

Marinette snorted loudly and pressed her hand on top of her mouth. Chat usually said some weird things when he was around Ladybug, but the stuff he said when he talked to Marinette really took the cake. It was funny, no matter how angry she had been just a few minutes ago. Chat had a talent for making her smile, even if she didn’t want to confess to enjoying his jokes.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t mind so much if my knight would be an actual cat, lying in my bed, but it’s something else if it’s a boy we’re talking about,” she muttered, her lips still curled up into a cheeky grin.

“That’s true, princess. So you better lock that window. I will do the same. We don’t want any more nightly visits by your loyal stalker, do we? It would only end in a cat-astrophe.”

“You only said that to make this joke, huh,” she snorted again. “But truth be told, I don’t mind talking to you. Just not… in the middle of the night, okay? And not in my bed. I promised my dad not to let any boys in my bed, if you catch my drift.”

Chat raised an eyebrow. “Got it,” he replied without taking his chance to dwell on Marinette’s unusual banter. It seemed as if he had experiences in the domain of protective fathers, and his countenance clearly told her that he wouldn’t dare to joke about such an issue.

Then, after seconds of regarding her words intently, he finally realised what other things the girl had just said to him. “But you wouldn’t mind if I came to visit you some other time?” He gaped at her, green eyes wide open, and both happiness and surprise were displayed on his face. Marinette could imagine that he wouldn’t have dreamed about ever talking to her again after such a disastrous event, yet here she was, sitting on her bed in her pyjamas and telling him that it was okay to visit her. It seemed hard to believe, and even Marinette wasn’t quite sure why she didn’t even mind. An amused smirk started to form on her lips as he kept staring at her as if she was an angel.

“Sure.” She eventually shrugged and snuggled back into her bed, turning away from the boy sitting beside her. “Just not past ten in the evening. And not every day. I have a life, you know?”

Chat nodded. That was more than he could have hoped for. “Thank you, princess. Goodnight.”

With a single motion he jumped through the window and closed it again, and before she could wish him a good night he was gone.

 

The moment Marinette entered the classroom the next day, Alya’s incredible instincts had let her realise that something had kept the black-haired girl from sleeping once again… And Marinette was aware that, unlike her parents, Alya would never believe the lie about the tailor’s dummy. She needed a better story for her friend, since Alya knew that Marinette wasn’t scared so easily by something like that. She had left the mannequin in the middle of the room on more than just one occasion, and it had never been a problem.

“It was the cat,” Marinette therefore tried to explain. “Remember the stray cat I told you about? Well, it managed to sneak into my room and fell asleep right next to me. When I woke up at night and saw the cat there… it scared me to death! It took a while until I got that kitty out of my room again. It was… an adventure, to say the least.”

From the corner of her eye she noticed how Adrien slightly turned his head in her direction. Was that a smug grin on his face? She couldn’t see him clearly in her field of vision, but from what she could make out, he looked faintly reminiscent of someone else.

Of said cat that had found its way into her bed last night.

‘Weird,’ she thought. ‘Just weird.’


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is my fave chapter so far, to be honest xD You'll probably know why at the end of it~
> 
> Thanks again for your sweet comments! You're wonderful <3

Rainy autumn days made way for the beginning of a cold, early winter, and soon the first snow that year hid the streets of Paris underneath a thin blanket of crystalline ice. A few soft snowflakes still flew through the freezing air and fell onto the metallic framework of the Eiffel Tower, painting it in a soothing white colour in this winter wonderland.

Marinette was on her way home from school, snuggling her face into the warm fabric of her muffler. It was the coldest day of the year so far and although Marinette was shivering, she loved snow. On such days every building covered in icy dust seemed to glitter and glimmer, and the snow refracted the rare sunlight like thousand tiny diamonds.

Marinette used to get sick very easily when it was chilly outside, but ever since she had gotten the miraculous powers of Ladybug, her body had grown stronger in every aspect. She rarely caught a cold, but she couldn’t say the same thing about her friend Alya. The brunette walking next to her sneezed twice and made it very clear to Marinette that she was freezing.

“Let’s just hurry home,” Alya muttered under a huffed breath and turned to stare at her black-haired friend. “How come the cold doesn’t bother you at all?” she asked suspiciously while she rubbed her gloved hands against her arms to stop the shivers running through her whole body. She had known Marinette for many years, but it had only been in the last two of them that her friend suddenly seemed immune to most sicknesses – besides sleep deprivation, that is. She got that pretty often lately.

“That’s not true at all,” Marinette mumbled into her pink scarf, “I’m just as cold as you. I’m just… lucky that I didn’t get sick yet.”

“Speaking of lucky!” From one moment to the next Alya’s demeanour changed completely. The baker’s daughter observed how her best friend’s face lit up and her hazel eyes were sparkling like stars – that was her “let me tell you about Ladybug” expression and Marinette knew it just too well. Once her friend was in this mode, there was no turning back.

“Alright, what’s the news?” the black-haired teen asked and hid her knowing grin behind her scarf.

“Okay, check this out! Yesterday, Ladybug fought some villain at Notre Dame – a sanitary worker who was angry at all the tourists littering, I think – and _of course_ she was amazing in this fight. But then Chat Noir tripped over some pile of dirt and…” The brunette snorted before she could even finish her story. She bit her lower lip and gulped, before she reported: “The poor cat fell straight into the river!”

“Into the Seine?” Marinette pretended that she was really surprised, while in fact she had been grinning into her muffler the whole time. Yes, yesterday’s fight had stunk, but in a literal way – “litter-al”, as Chat Noir would probably put it. She was glad that the miraculous healing after the battle had made the horrible smell and dirt that had been clinging to her body like an unpleasant, second skin disappear completely, or else Alya would have suspected more than ever that her friend was Ladybug. She would have smelled her out, and this wasn’t just metaphorical speaking. But the funniest thing during that fight had been Chat’s hilariously bad luck when he had tried to block one of the “Litterateur’s” attacks. He had tripped, fallen backwards and bumped in the ice-cold water of the river Seine. She didn’t want to imagine what an unpleasant situation that must have been for him, but it had been too funny to watch. Of course she had been quick to the rescue and had extended a helping hand to her partner almost immediately, but he had looked so much like a grumpy, soaked kitten that she hadn’t been able to stop herself from grinning broadly. She still remembered the disappointed glare he had given her once he had caught her laughing. The girl vowed to apologise the next time they met again as Ladybug and Chat Noir.

But before that was going to happen, they would probably meet again as the princess and her knight. He had visited her quite a few times after she had woken up to him sleeping next to her, and since then they had talked about random things most of the time. Yet once in a while it seemed to Marinette that Chat was warming up to her. That some of the things he told her as Marinette, the “normal girl with a normal life”, were actually true and sincere. Like the fact that he usually disliked his home, that he felt lonely there, and that he admired Marinette’s wonderful family. She had just smirked and shrugged whenever he had said something like this, not quite believing he was being completely honest with her. Yet after weeks of talking to him, she was starting to recognise the same expression on his face when he was speaking to her as when he was telling Ladybug that he admired her – which had been quite often lately.

“Yeah, into the freezing water! Brrr, poor kitty!” Alya suddenly yanked her out of her thoughts. “Speaking of kitties,” she added and stopped walking. The girls were standing in front of Marinette’s home and they could see her parents inside the bakery, working diligently and with smiles on their faces.

“What happened to that stray cat? Is it still visiting you once in a while?”

Considering her answer for a while, the black-haired girl finally nodded. She had decided to stick to the story of the cat visiting her at night, since this was pretty close to what actually happened, without giving Alya the pleasure of knowing that it was, in fact, a boy who visited her every so often.

“It just sneaks onto my balcony once in a while. That’s about it.” The image of Chat Noir sitting on the handrail of her balcony in the evening, once it was dark enough for him to come and go unnoticed, appeared in front of her eyes. Or Chat resting on the deckchair, stretching his arms and legs while Marinette stood next to him, wrapped in a blanket and with an arched eyebrow. Chat standing far too close to her, playfully raising her chin with his index finger. Chat making some strangely suggestive puns. Chat flirting with her. Chat…

Marinette’s cheeks grew hot as she remembered how weird he sometimes acted when she was around. Of course, she was used to this when she was Ladybug, but it was something else when she was her normal self. Excluding the first time they had met, more than a year ago, he had rarely flirted with her so straightforwardly. Yet once in a while her knight turned into an ordinary Casanova, and Marinette still wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.

She probably shouldn’t. Her heart belonged to Adrien, and Chat was just a player. Well, a really funny player, mind you, but that didn’t change the fact that his flirting could be annoying sometimes…

“Helloooo, earth to Marinette! Someone there in your tiny little head? Hellooo?” Alya was waving her hands in front of her friend’s face and stared at her wide-eyed. She must have drifted far away into the land of her daydreams once again, Marinette realised and gulped.

“Sorry about that,” she mumbled. “I was just… thinking.”

“Yeah, I could see that. Your face is as red as a tomato, you lovely dork! Thinking about Adrien, are you? I bet you’d _love_ it if that kitten would be Adrien, who transforms into a cat at night just to see you, eh?” She snorted, because apparently she found this idea exceptionally funny. Marinette not so much; she just furrowed her brows, mumbled something along the lines of “As if Adrien would ever be that… cat”, and then heaved a long, weary sigh.

“Alright, Alya, but I really need to go inside and do my homework. Besides, you should probably go home soon as well. Your nose is running, and if you don’t hurry home it’s going to run away,” she added with a grin, her hands on her hips. If Alya could make weird jokes, then she could as well.

 

Marinette was still working on her dress when Chat knocked at her balcony window. While the radio in the background played a song she didn’t recognise, she put the tailor’s dummy aside and climbed the stairs to open the window and let her self-acclaimed knight in. She obediently locked the entry from above every night, just so that Chat couldn’t enter without either of them knowing. When he was awake, however, she didn’t hesitate to open the door for him.

It had happened before, once or twice, that he had appeared on her balcony again when he wasn’t awake, and for that reason Marinette left a spray flask she used to water her plants in summer right next to the window. In case she should see him on the balcony with blank eyes wide open, stumbling over the table again or resting on the deckchair as if he was lying on a surgical table – well, what better way was there to rouse a sleeping cat than with a bottle of water? It usually worked, and Chat was awake right away – he was also slightly drenched and grumpy, but Marinette didn’t really care. It was too hilarious to watch him act like a sulking kitten, and he was quite aware that she had to wake him up. Neither of them knew how Chat still managed to transform and get out of his room with all the preventions he made according to him, but he promised he would deal with this whenever he got home the same night.

Even if his sleepwalking trips to her terrace were amusing for her, Marinette liked it better when he was fully aware of visiting her. On those nights, he usually stayed for a while and talked about this and that, which was nothing of importance in the main. Yet sometimes he told her short anecdotes from his life, and that was what she secretly enjoyed most. It was nice to know more about her partner, without him realising that he was actually talking to his crush, Ladybug. “Did you know that my father forgets my birthday almost every year? He got me a nice present last year, but other than that it has always been something useless, like a ballpoint pen or a book about management strategies. Boring, right?” She, on the other hand, had told him how she usually spent her birthdays with her friends and family, and that she wouldn’t mind that much if he’d be there as well. She promised she would visit him at his birthday if he wanted her to, but he refused to disclose when his birthday was for some reason.

This night, however, he seemed gloomier than usual. He tried to give her his usual smug smile, but snuffled the moment he entered the room and sneezed as he climbed down the stairs. He almost tripped and stumbled the way down, which reminded Marinette so much of what had happened during the fight the day before. She bit her knuckles and tried hard not to snort as the hilarious pictures from the previous day reappeared in her mind. Laughing at him would be really mean right now, but it was his own fault for visiting her instead of resting in bed and curing his cold. Apparently his fall into the river had been the last straw to break the camel’s back and the black cat’s streak of luck – if he ever had one – and not even the miraculous healing had been able to fix it. Now he was sneezing and shivering and practically begged Marinette to lend him a blanket and a handkerchief.

“I fell into the Seine while I was trying to save Paris yesterday,” he explained while he sat down on the couch and snuggled into the blanket.

“My friend told me you stumbled. Apparently it looked very ungracefully,” she added with a snort and handed him a box of tissues. He just darted a sulking glance at her and blew his nose. While he kept on sneezing and hugging the blanket, Marinette went to make him some tea, wondering how she ended up looking after a sick kitten. She couldn’t remember signing up for this, yet some part of her reminded Marinette that she as partly guilty for his fall in the river. The scene of yesterday’s battle sprung back to her mind, and she remembered how Chat Noir had been trying to stop the Litterateur from throwing another batch of dirt at her alter ego, which was why the akumatised villain had hit the boy instead and Chat had tripped over a pile of trash lying on the ground because of that. This had eventually led up to his fall into the Seine, which meant that his own clumsiness was also at fault here, although she couldn’t wash her hands of it completely. Sighing, she turned the electric kettle on and grabbed a mug from the kitchen cabinet, preparing the hot beverage for her superhero friend.

Yet when she returned, the boy looked a lot better than he had a few minutes before. Now that he had warmed up, the colour returned to his previously pale face and he could smile again. With a purred “thanks, princess” he took the tea out of her hands and began to gulp it down, just to start coughing again and almost spitting it out.

“Hot, hot, hot!” he huffed, gasping for air and sticking out his tongue as he put the cup aside to let it cool down.

Marinette had followed the scene in front of her eyes with an amused smile. It was funny how small Chat looked, now that he was crouched on her couch, wrapped in a violet sheet with the same flowery pattern she had stitched on so many of her belongings. He was currently busy inspecting the progress she had made on the dress since the last time he had visited her, and after he had stared at her work for a while, a satisfied expression displayed on his face, he turned his gaze back to her. For a moment he seemed shocked, since she just stood there with a wide grin and a hand pressed to her mouth to prevent laughter, but then he returned the amused smile.

“Thank you for saving your knight this time, princess,” he chuckled as he pulled the blanket from his shoulders, while the radio played yet another song Marinette didn’t know. “What does Your Highness wish for, as a reward for saving your loyal guard?” he asked and made way for Marinette to sit down next to him.

“What I wish for? How about world peace, for a start,” she answered and grimaced while she seated herself on the empty spot besides the boy on the couch.

“I’m currently working on that,” he replied as he raised the blanket and gave her a questioning look. She understood, and while she still found the thought of being within such striking distance to Chat Noir both weird and awkward, she didn’t resist. He slowly slid closer to her and put the soft sheet over their backs. She could have sworn he started purring gently.

Silence filled the cosy room as the two teenagers sat on the couch, leaning on each other and gazing into space, shoulders faintly touching. Chat’s arm flinched once or twice, and Marinette was sure that he was contemplating putting his arm around her. He eventually decided against it, and instead placed his hand behind them, sitting back on the couch. His green eyes scanned the room, and finally rested on the dress he had eyed a few minutes ago.

“I don’t think you’ve told me yet why you are making this dress, princess. Is it just because you love designing?” he asked, and something in his gaze told her that he knew more about her talent than she suspected.

“Yes, and no,” she replied, “Of course I’m doing it because I love it, but… to be honest, I was planning on wearing this dress on Christmas. Or my birthday. Depending on how soon I can get the laces that I still need. I haven’t found the right sort yet.”

“It’s going to look really pretty on you,” the blond boy mumbled and the soothing smile on his lips betrayed his thoughts. Marinette was sure he imagined her in the white gown, swirling around and making a curtsey, before her knight led her to the dancefloor. She shook her head in disbelief – he couldn’t be that cheesy, could he?

“You’re going to be the most beautiful princess on the ball. Even Cinderella will to be jealous of you.”

Well, apparently he could.

“I’m not even going to a ball. Didn’t you listen to what I just said, kitty? Besides, who would wear a dress like this to a ball anyway?” The cat clearly had no idea what he was talking about. Marinette shrugged her shoulders and turned her face to glare at him.

_So close._

When did his face get so close?

He was staring right back at her, green eyes wide open, shimmering like emeralds. His shoulder was touching hers again, and his warmth was spreading through her whole body from this simple contact. They had been sitting like this for a while – why was it only now that it felt so… different? Marinette didn’t like it. She didn’t like the nice, cosy heat this strange tension between them awakened in her chest. It felt too good.

“Marinette,” he muttered, and even though she expected him to act especially flirty in such a situation, he looked rather dumbfounded. As if he had found something in the deep oceans of her blue eyes that he hadn’t been able to see before. What it was, she couldn’t tell. Her thoughts had stopped working. She couldn’t tell anything at all. She gaped back at him, her pink lips slightly parted in amazement. The fire in her body was getting unbearable, and she was sure her face already matched her kwami’s colour. But no matter how weird and uncomfortable she felt, she couldn’t move a muscle. She was frozen, and yet burning from the inside.

‘Do something,’ she almost wanted to beg Chat, ‘No matter what, just do something! Don’t stare at me like that!’ If he moved towards her, closed the gap between their faces, then at least she would be able to push him away, to scold him and tease him for doing something stupid. And if he moved in the other direction – well, then they could both laugh it off. But he didn’t do anything. He just had his catlike irises fixed on her, beholding her whole face, her azure eyes, her soft lips…

At this very moment, the radio finally blurted out a song Marinette knew. However, in a situation like this, it couldn’t have been worse. Or more cliché. But at least the moment was completely ruined in her book. It was better this way.

Chat yanked his head around towards the radio standing on the girl’s desk. Relief spread over his face as the blush disappeared from his cheeks. Marinette hadn’t even realised how red his face had been just a few seconds ago. She had been too focused on what he did or didn’t do to take this into consideration. The music continued, as the singer exclaimed: “I wanna know what love is.”

Chat sprang to his feet at once and grabbed a pencil lying next to the radio. Then, as if trying to diffuse the tension between them, he dramatically started to sing along, pretending the pen was his microphone.

“I wanna _nyau_ what love is,” he warbled away, “I want you to show _meow_!”

Marinette’s facial muscles relaxed immediately and her lips curled up to a smile once again. “You idiot,” she mumbled. And even quieter she added: “Thank you.”

She was glad that he didn’t make things even more awkward between them. Instead, he kept serenading her, and either he was a terrible singer, or he was really good a pretending to be one.

“I wanna _feline_ what love is, I _nyau_ you can show _me-ouch_ …”

He didn’t even stop when Marinette threw a pillow that hit him right in the face, but only when he realised that it probably wasn’t the best idea to sing while his throat was still hurting.

‘Stupid cat,’ Marinette thought when he finally bid her goodbye to go home and give his aching body a rest. ‘You stupid, silly cat.’

Her eyes rose to the window through which he had left, watching how the snowfall painted white flowers of ice on its surface. Although he had gone, it didn’t really feel like it – his presence in the room still seemed to linger, within her grasp and not willing to leave so soon. There was the quickly put away pen, the ruffled blanket, the mug of tea now gone cold. The room was full of him, her whole life was full of him, of his stupid jokes and his warm laughter, and she knew she no longer wanted to be without any of this. ‘No, I really wouldn’t want to miss you in my life,’ the silent words echoed in her head, not realising yet that Chat Noir already _had_ become inseparable to it. He had not only come to be part of her world – he had also grown into a crucial part of herself and her whole existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is gonna be muuuch longer and it has to do with Marinette's birthday, so let's just hope I can get it published before Marinette's birthday episode, because then my headcanon of her being born in January it will probably conflict the canon info ahaha ^-^°


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter includes Marinette's birthday, and I put it in January for different reasons. I hope it's not gonna conflict with the canon birthday too much once the episode airs :')  
> (And thanks to tricksterash I fell in love with the idea of Marinette being slightly older than Adrien xD There are a few hints in the past chapters that Adrien is already 16 during the story, which would make him older, but since I seriously love this headcanon I'm just gonna leave that up to you~ ;D)

Christmas had passed in a hurry, as if the year couldn’t wait to be finally over. The snow had melted and left cold, icy streets behind. Bleak, leafless trees could be seen everywhere once the holiday lights had disappeared after the festive season. Adrien had barely noticed it. He had been too busy with gala dinners and fundraiser events his father had taken him to, leaving no room for the enjoyment of the “most wonderful time of the year”. The boy didn’t really mind, for he couldn’t truly appreciate family festivities like Christmas since his mother had left them. But what he regretted was the lack of time he had to visit Marinette. The absence of her warm glow in his life affected his sleepwalking problem anew after it had stopped being worrisome for a while. At least he never got past his room, for he usually woke up after Plagg bit the teenager’s hands or ears while he was trying to open the window in his upper floor room. It always ended in the kwami forcing Adrien back to bed and complaining that he would never again transform him at night, not even when he begged and cried and said that his life depended on it, like he apparently had done the last few times.

During the few evenings that he actually had the time to visit his classmate, the girl was usually busy or not even at home. Being re-elected as the class president, she was in charge for their class’s participation in the school’s Christmas celebration. They were planning to do a stage play adaption of “A Christmas Carol”, and once Adrien had announced that he wouldn’t be able to act in it, Marinette’s beautiful smile had vanished from her lips and turned into a sad, straight line on her face. He hated himself for making her sad, even if he was aware that it wasn’t his fault but his father’s. Yet he had seen the joy disappear from her sky blue eyes, and this was almost his biggest regret. The only thing that he hated even more was the fact that he couldn’t spend any time with her as _neither_ of his personas.

On New Year’s Eve, the teenager had taken his chance of a thirty minute pause in-between different galas to turn into Chat Noir and hurry to Marinette’s house. Yet once he realised that the girl was preparing for a small celebration with her family and her best friend Alya, he decided it was best to not disturb them. From his place on the housetop opposite the girl’s home he could look through the room’s windows and saw the white dress on the tailor’s dummy standing there, still unfinished. She had attached a layer of rose coloured cloth as a skirt underneath the white fabric, but she hadn’t been able to add the laces that a “mysterious admirer” had sent her for Christmas yet. He was sure it was the right kind of lace, exactly the one she had been looking for, since she had been really happy when she found the present he had left on her balcony a few nights before Christmas. He had been watching her from the roof just to witness her reaction and her beautiful smile at least once before he had to leave again. He couldn’t wait to see her in the finished gown, looking like a princess – _his_ princess.

It was going to be her birthday soon, as he had eventually found out after his asking had turned into a little guessing game – much to Marinette’s amusement – and he had finally worked out the correct date. At the end of January, in the middle of winter, she had been born, and he was surprised that someone like her who had gleaming light shining through her eyes and a fire burning in her heart wasn’t born on the most beautiful day in summer. Yet when he thought about it, it made a lot of sense: Since Marinette was like sunlight or the first flowers blooming in spring, she breathed life into her surroundings and filled the cold of winter with her radiant smile which he desperately yearned for. Indeed, it all made perfect sense to him.

Even after the festival season, he was busy during the whole month of January as well, and he couldn’t even go to school most days of the week and had to be home-schooled during his few breaks in-between work. His father’s next fashion show was to be held soon, and for the first time he was supposed to take a bigger role in it, presenting a set of new outfits his dad’s fashion label had created, since he no longer looked younger than the adult models, given the right lighting and make-up. He was proud to take part in such a big event, yet he still lacked the right amount of sleep, just like he had a few months ago. Alas, his sleepwalking problem stayed with him.

Finally, the day after the show, it was time to go back to school. His childhood friend Chloe, who had been on his tail at the galas and even the party after the fashion show, was once again the first to greet him, and could only be stopped by Adrien’s best friend Nino who managed to get him out of the blonde’s clutches. While they were standing in front of the lockers Adrien spotted Marinette standing at the end of the hall, motionless and staring at her feet. It seemed like she was waiting for someone, probably Alya, but he was too happy to finally see her again that he almost forgot that at this very moment he wasn’t Marinette’s friend Chat Noir, but Adrien Agreste, the boy Marinette seemed to be slightly intimidated by for no rhyme and reason.

“Hi, Marinette!” he greeted her from afar, one hand raised as he walked towards her faster than intended. He could hear Nino snort behind his back when Marinette looked up and, like always, the blood rushed into her head as her mouth flew wide open.

“Oh, A-Adrien, I had no idea you were back at school! I mean, of course I’m ha-happy about this, but, you know, I, uhm, eh…” Her gaze had immediately gone back to the floor, gawping at the wooden tiles on the ground as if their patterns were more interesting than Adrien could ever be. Then she slowly lifted her head, eyes heavy-lidded and ready to shut tight at any given moment if necessary. Her pinkish lips gradually parted as she added in a hushed and shy voice: “Happy belated New Year, I guess…?”

“You too,” he replied quickly, nervously scratching the back of his head. “Hey, I heard that it’s your birthday soon, so…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence, since Chloe once again did what she could do best: interrupt at the worst times, just like last year when he had been just about to kiss Marinette during their film shooting. At that time, Adrien hadn’t felt like had missed something crucial, yet by now he almost regretted it.

“Aaadrien, there’s still something I need to tell you! Okay, listen, about next week…”

She was dragging him away from the black-haired girl which still had her eyes fixed on them. A flush of anger was displayed on her face as she stared at Chloe, but the moment her friend Alya entered and greeted her with a hug, the fury in her blue eyes had completely vanished. It didn’t seem like Marinette had even realised what Adrien had been trying to ask. And to be honest, he wasn’t quite sure himself. ‘Are you free at your birthday? Can I come to your party? Is there something you want as a present?’ It could have been any of these questions, yet he hadn’t been able to ask a single one of them – thanks to Chloe who was still going on about her plans for the coming week. Maybe it was better this way. After all, Marinette seemed completely uncomfortable around Adrien.

Not so much around Chat Noir, though. Before he even knew it, an idea had come to his mind, and he was glad that at least his alter ego was welcome in Marinette’s presence. Hadn’t she even said that she wouldn’t mind if he, as Chat Noir, would be there at her birthday party? Well, he would come back to that.

Once Chloe had gone to her bench after entering the classroom and started bugging poor Sabrina about her homework, he sat down on his seat and turned to Nino, who had the smuggest grin Adrien had ever seen on his face.

“So, Marinette, huh? What’s with the sudden interest in her, dude? Something you’re not telling me?”

Adrien gulped and hid his face behind his right hand, ruffling through his hair with the other. “Yes and no. Actually…” he began to say, not quite sure what he was supposed to tell him. While he hadn’t tried to talk to the baker’s daughter that often during his first year at public school, the amount of failed conversations started by him had multiplied a lot lately, which made every attempt even more awkward. Of course Nino didn’t know about the reason for Adrien’s sudden obsession with their classmate, since it was Chat Noir who was reaching out for her more than Adrien ever could, and during school his efforts were doomed to be unsuccessful.

“Actually _what_ , dude?” Since the blond boy hadn’t finished his sentence and had just continued to press his hand to his face in a desperate manner, Nino got even more curious. “Cat got your tongue, or what’s going on, dude?”

His lips hidden under the palm of his hand, Adrien couldn’t help but smile vaguely. Nino couldn’t have used a more ironic phrase in this situation.

“Kinda,” he finally replied after contemplating his answer for a moment, “Because, to be honest, I don’t know the answer to that myself.”

Nino sighed and shook his head while he put his headphones aside and into his bag. “That’s not exactly the answer I was hoping for, but I guess it’s alright. I mean, at least you’re making Marinette really happy with this, and that’s the best for all of us, dude,” he added and laughed, giving his befuddled friend a thumbs up.

He could guess why a happy Marinette was supposed to be best for everyone, since she was the class president and in charge of all their concerns, but she didn’t seem really happy to him. Wasn’t she always completely baffled and highly uncomfortable whenever he was around? Sometimes he suspected that the girl might actually like him in one way or another, and the pictures in her room had basically proven that, but then again it always seemed as if she was intimidated or even scared of him. Marinette was a mystery to Adrien, and he was glad that he could at least partly understand what she was thinking when he was Chat Noir.

Alya and Marinette had entered the room by now and seated themselves on the bench behind the two boys. From the corner of his eye, Adrien could see how the black-haired girl cast a short glance at him, but before he could return the gaze she had averted her azure eyes to look at her friend who was rambling on about Ladybug’s latest adventure.

“Speaking of good luck, it’s your birthday next week,” the brunette suddenly changed the topic and Adrien’s ears perked up. “So have you finally decided what to do that day?”

Marinette groaned and placed her forehead on the cool surface of the table. It sounded like she had gotten this question a lot lately. “Seriously, Alya, I don’t particularly care, at least not this year. Let’s eat some cake at home and then go watch a movie or what not. I just want to do something simple. There’s nothing special about turning 16…”

Alya wouldn’t have any of it. “But Marinette, it’s your birthday and you deserve something special. You’ve been working so hard lately! At least let me treat you to cake and cacao at some nice, cosy café, okay?” The brunette was leaning over the desk to look at Marinette who was still resting her face against the desk. Defeated, the baker’s daughter turned her head towards her friend and grimaced.

“Alright, alright, that’s fine. And then we go watch a movie with the others and call it a day, okay? And nothing more than that!”

“Got it!” Alya cheered and had to be silenced by the teacher who was just about to begin her lesson.

So Marinette would probably be at home in the evening of her birthday, Adrien noted down in his mind. That was exactly the kind of information that he needed. Maybe he could finally pay her a visit again. He was most definitely looking forward to it.

 

In the late afternoon of Marinette’s birthday, Chat Noir was on his way to the girl’s home. Afternoon hadn’t passed into evening yet and the sky was only now changing from bright blue to darker shades of the same colour. Soon, the sun would go down and paint Paris in yellow, orange and red, and let the Eiffel Tower shimmer like pure gold. Yet Adrien didn’t care for the beauty of this scene, since his destination was far more important to him than any view of the city could ever be, and far more beautiful as well.

He didn’t have a real plan about what to do or what to tell Marinette once he was there, yet selfishly he yearned for her familiar warmth and wanted to see her face lighten up again in his presence, having missed her for so long. He didn’t even know if she still expected him to care about her, since he hadn’t visited her for weeks now – but he desperately hoped so, since indifference towards her was the exact opposite of what he felt. He just hadn’t had the time to see her before, and even if his sleeping body was still trying to get to her somehow, both his and Plagg’s plan of locking all doors and windows seemed to be working. There had been no nightly detours for a while now.

On his way to the bakery he spotted a floral shop from above, and decided on the spur of the moment that this was probably the most becoming present for his princess. After all, flowers suited her well as she was like a lovely rose still unsure when it was her time to be in full bloom and to endow her surroundings with her beauty. Adding to that, she also seemed to love flowers herself, as the floral patterns on everything she owned and the plants on the balcony he knew so well clearly suggested. Hence, he bought a bouquet of white and pink camellias that reminded him so much of both Marinette’s favourite floral design and the baker’s daughter herself alike, and a delighted smile graced his lips as he imagined her reaction when he handed the flowers to his princess. Adrien didn’t pay much attention to the florist who began asking questions, as his mind was already on the housetops again, moving towards his own personal sun in the fading light. And so he excused himself and bid the woman farewell, finally returning to the roofs without looking back, and followed the path his heart had laid out for him.

By the time he reached the bakery the sun had already set and the sky was turning dark very quickly. It had been a spectacle to gaze at the glowing, red ball as it melted into the city’s silhouette and to watch as the crimson rays bled from the horizon, setting the windows of the dark buildings of Paris alight with twinkling, false fires. Soon, as the night had adsorbed the remaining colours of the sky with its black mantle, they were replaced by the warm, yellow shine of lamps, an ocean of golden stars to his feet, reflecting the sea of the countless, silver lights above him. And in between them, his princess rested.

Now that the day had come to a close, he landed on the balcony’s handrail, like he usually did, yet before he could even blink he heard a rustling noise from the deckchair. Something had moved, but he couldn’t even identify whoever it was before a familiar voice whispered: “Chat Noir? Is that you?”

The girl sitting on the deckchair was wrapped in many blankets, her knees drawn to her body, and yet she was shivering. It looked like she had been sitting on the roof for a while and was freezing all over, as the covers didn’t seem to warm her up any longer. Had she been waiting here? For him? He wasn’t sure if he could allow himself to build up his hopes in this regard, but he was glad that Marinette was there either way.

“Princess!” he breathed as he rushed over to the baker’s daughter in the blink of an eye and kneeled down before she even realised he was right in front of her. A smile hushed over her face as he held the bouquet of camellias out to her and took her hand in his. “Happy _mew_ -rry birthday, Your Highness,” he purred, “I think these flowers would suit you well.”

She snorted, and after a few seconds of silence she burst into a hearty laughter. “I almost missed your hilarious way of talking to me,” she managed to say amidst chuckles and quickly repeated: “ _Almost_!” as Chat Noir’s lips formed his usual smirk.

“I’m sorry I left you waiting, _purr_ -incess,” he muttered once Marinette had composed herself again, and then sat down on the wooden box next to the deckchair. “I hope you had a wonderful birthday so far.”

“I had,” she said, her eyes glancing down at the camellias in her hands, their light and lovely colours gleaming in the moonlight. “I went to a restaurant and to a movie with some friends. It was nice.”

Adrien nodded, urging her to go on, but either she didn’t notice or she wasn’t willing to say more about the matter, since she fell silent and slowly raised the bouquet to her face, taking in the flowers’ nice smell.

“That is, until I had to freeze to death on this balcony,” she suddenly continued and Adrien could see a pair of blue irises glare at him from behind the white and pink blossoms. Yet even if she tried to look angry, the shimmer in her eyes betrayed the actual joy she felt at this very moment and the blond boy couldn’t help but smile to himself.

“So you _did_ wait for me? Even though you couldn’t know if I would come? That’s a surprise,” he chuckled, more to himself than to her, yet she heard it and turned visibly red.

“Shut up,” she grumbled and averted her gaze, staring at the sky above his head. He followed her lead and raised his emerald eyes, and was met with the beautiful display of the night sky, sprinkled with myriads of stars. The bright, glowing moon adorned the firmament, almost big enough to be called a full moon, and immersed the balcony in a soft, nocturnal light.

“I’m really happy that you waited here for me, princess,” he confessed after a few minutes of stargazing, glimpsing back at the girl sitting next to him, “But aren’t you cold? As much as I enjoy sitting here with you and staring at the moon, aren’t you going to get sick if you stay out here?”

She seemed to consider his proposal for a moment, but then she shook her head, despite being evidently cold.

“No, I’d rather stay here. It’s nice here. And the night sky is pretty.” She turned her head towards the window leading down to her room. “By the way,” she continued speaking, “there’s a switch over there. You might want to press it.” From the chuckle she was trying to stifle he could tell that she was hiding something, a surprise maybe. Yet he did what she had asked from him without missing a beat and walked over to the hatch, easily finding the switch on the brightly illuminated terrace.

When he turned around, he was met with hundreds of colourful, tiny stars – but not at the heaven’s tent, but on the balcony itself. There were many sparkling lights, twisted through the railing’s bars and affixed to the stone fence around the terrace, emitting a glow in many different hues that turned the place into a realm of magic for just the two of them. Once in a while the lights slowly blinked, just to envelop the roof in red, green, blue and yellow anew after mere seconds. Adrien was taken aback, almost gaping at the display. It was like he was drawn into the world of a fairytale alongside his princess, an otherworldly paradise taking over the dark of the night after she had effected an enchanting miracle. He looked back to Marinette, the puzzlement he felt written all over his face.

The black-haired girl was still wrapped in the blankets and looked slightly uncomfortable where she sat, but she grinned from ear to ear. Then she proudly said: “Those are the leftovers from our New Year’s party. I thought I could leave them here until you come to visit the next time. Took you longer than expected, though. So don’t get your hopes up, I’m not trying to be romantic here, nope. I just thought…” She dropped her gaze, once again staring at the flowers she had placed on the deckchair right in front of her legs. A single, shoeless foot looked out from under the covers, and even though Marinette had uttered those words, a heat stronger than Adrien had ever experienced started to seize his chest as his eyes rested on the girl’s soft smile.

A minute or so passed until the boy had finally regained his cool and gulped, swallowing down the sudden nervousness he felt. He was surprised at what kind of emotions Marinette aroused in his heart – feelings that once before only his lady had kindled. Secretly, he hoped that the two girls were actually the same person. He had anticipated it for a while now, and the night when they had sat in Marinette’s room under a blanket had been the moment he was almost certain that it was true. Her eyes, up close, looked so familiar, and the way she talked to him, or looked at him, were so much like Ladybug that it was almost stupid to think they were not the same person. Sometimes Marinette called him “kitty”, maybe by accident, and maybe not even realising that the way she used the nickname was exactly like his lady did. There were so many striking resemblances, both physically and from inside her heart. She acted like Ladybug in her day-to-day life, was brave like Ladybug, talked like her and even treated him almost exactly the same – except for the fact that Marinette, unlike Ladybug, seemed to have a more intimate connection to him, in a completely innocent way. Their hearts seemed to be closer to each other than Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s had ever been, and once Adrien thought about it, this one aspect was the only reason that still stopped him from concluding: Yes, Marinette is absolutely and to one hundred percent Ladybug. But it also attracted him to the baker’s daughter even further, all the more craving for that strange familiarity he felt every single moment he spent with her, the tenderness veiled behind her amused laughter and the sense of affinity he perceived whenever Marinette’s enchanting gaze met his.

“What did you think?” he eventually asked, reminding her that she hadn’t finished her sentence yet. What _was_ she thinking? At this very moment there was nothing in the world he desired to know besides the thoughts running through Marinette’s head.

“I just thought you might like it. Since you’re such a romantic sap most of the time,” she quickly replied and placed her forehead on her knees. Was she trying to hide a blush?

“I am, indeed,” he chuckled, and with a few light steps he stood in front of her chair again. “And since I’m such a hopeless romantic, would you do me the honour and join me for a dance under the stars?”

Her head jolted up and she stared at him, her eyes once more wide with surprise.

“A _dance_?” she asked bewildered, “Why even? There’s no music to dance to and it’s freaking cold out here. Seriously… _why_?”

“Why not?” he retorted. “Why shouldn’t I ask my lady… my _princess_ for a dance on her birthday? Especially as she turned her balcony into such a beautiful place for me.”

He could hear a grumbled “It was not for _you_ ” from her direction, but he decided to ignore her pouty face and turned around to make room for their dance, moving the table to the side. There wasn’t much space to move for them, but what did it matter? It was the thought that counted. Besides, his princess hadn’t even said yes.

As he faced her again, she seemed to be in deep thought. Then, after a moment of consideration, she stood up. She no longer tried to hold the blankets tight around her body and as the fabric slid down her shoulders, he realized for the first time that evening that they not only had shielded her against the cold but had hidden a sight from Adrien as well that now left him breathless. He felt dense and stupid for not noticing it earlier – he just had been too happy to see her again after all this time, and his joy had caused him to be too blind to see what had been right in front of him. But now it was as if the puzzle-pieces fell into place, revealing the full picture, and Chat Noir was unable to avert his eyes from it. He breathed in audibly as he gazed at her in awe.

Beautiful. That was exactly the word he needed at this very moment. Not the stars and the moon on the heaven’s tent, nor the lights on the balcony, and not even the golden shine of the Eiffel Tower in the distance – it was Marinette who deserved this description most.

She had finally finished her dress. And god, had it been worth it. It wasn’t the slightest like all the weird, new dresses he had seen on the galas and his father’s fashion show. No, it was simple and cute, and it was so much like Marinette. It was made from the purest shade of white at the top, and a rose coloured skirt was half-hidden underneath another layer of the same white fabric that was draped over the skirt, pulled and pinned up to the right side of her hips, loose on the other and flowing down over the rose coloured fabric in waves like a calm stream of water. Around her waist as well as the hem of the skirt he could see the pinkish lace he had gotten her for Christmas, and at the gown’s low v-neckline she had made an inset of the same lacy fabric with the floral patterns just above her chest. Adding to this purely innocent image of what he would describe as a charming flower covered by freshly fallen snow, yet blooming in all its beauty, her hair was up in a single bun, held by a ribbon decorated with three small pink pearls, and a few loose strands were falling down her neck. The girl’s petite feet stood shoeless on the ground, bare skin on the cold wooden floor. Adrien almost dared to hope that he was the first person to witness this amazing beauty – she was like a piece of art, and he wanted no one else to even think about stealing her away from him. Yet no art on earth would ever be able to do justice to her loveliness, and even the image of an angel, glowing in-between the fairytale lights on the balcony, that sprung to his mind for a second couldn’t compare to the girl who always shone like daylight, even in the darkest hour of the night. She was the sun and the moon and the stars of his life, and yet closer than those celestial bodies could ever be, filling his heart with a warm, pleasant breeze.

From the look in her azure eyes he could tell that she was embarrassed, maybe even ashamed, but he had no idea why her confidence should be wavering when she looked as stunning and enchanting as she did.

“So you finished your dress,” the boy stated the obvious to break the awkward silence between them. “It is pretty. I told you even Cinderella would be jealous of your beauty, princess.”

“Stop it, please,” she snorted and shook her head, a few more wisps of hair coming loose. “Thank you for the lace, by the way. I know it must have been you,” she finally concluded and turned to face him, grinning from ear to ear again. Adrien hadn’t even realised before that she was wearing make-up, her soft lips shimmering more than usual.

“Who knows, it might have been from someone else? Some _really_ secret admirer. I don’t think I’m a secret to you, am I?” He wasn’t completely wrong; technically the present had been from Adrien, the boy Marinette seemed to have some kind of problem with even though she seemed to be a “fan”, and _Adrien’s_ admiration for her was definitely a secret to the black-haired girl. Marinette just snorted at his suggestion, yet mere seconds later her face seemed thoughtful.

“To be honest with you: You are a complete mystery to me, Chat Noir,” she muttered as she put her hands to her hips, incidentally touching a pinkish rose which she had sewn on at the right side of her dress where the white fabric was pinned up. Before that, it had been hidden behind her arms, so Adrien hadn’t been able to see it. A soft smile appeared on his face; of course she had to add as many floral elements as possible, it suited her so well. Imagining Marinette without flowers was like imagining Paris without the Eiffel Tower – it was nearly impossible for him.

“So, do you want to dance now, or do you expect me to freeze to death while I wait?”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He took her left hand and placed it on his shoulder, while putting his right hand on her hips. He could feel her body tense up under his touch, but soon she seemed to relax. While he gently held her other hand in his, he started to move in a slow pace, taking small steps to accustom her to this dance. They had no music, so it was hard to find a rhythm to move to, and she clearly had no experience with dances, he concluded after she had stepped on his feet for the fifth time. She whispered quick apologies whenever she did, but he just smiled at her to reassure his partner, leading her over their small dancefloor under a black sky full of stars.

Their dance seemed to last forever. Minutes passed, and Marinette got used to the steps, moving more gracefully and with a joyful smile on her glossy lips. Her dress swirled around as they circled the balcony in-between the colourful lights, no sound except their feet on the wooden tiles disturbing the silence. The white colour of the girl’s gown seemed to glow even more as it was illuminated by the moon, and her eyes were filled with happiness. He couldn’t have hoped for anything better. His princess was happy, and so was he.

He started humming a melody to dance to, a song he had learned in piano lessons – Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major”. He had enjoyed playing this song, and its soothing, calm melody reminded him so much of the girl he was dancing with. It sounded just as sweet as Marinette’s gentle laughter once she realised that he was trying to hum, being the terrible singer he was.

For a short moment their eyes met. Blue irises meeting emerald green ones, the moonlight reflected in them. It was as if he could see himself in the depths of her azure orbs, yet he could also see the shock of realisation in them. What she had realised, he did not know, but his mind was too occupied with her beauty to think about it. They stared at each other, hearts beating quickly, lips parting in surprise. Without noticing it, they had stopped dancing. He had drawn her body closer to his, still holding her gaze. He had no idea when this had happened.

“Marinette…” The feeling of déjà-vu came over him, thinking back to the night when they were leaning against each other under a violet blanket. That time, a random song on the radio had saved him from doing something stupid. This time, there was nothing like this.

Before he knew what he was doing, his lips were on Marinette’s, first gently brushing them and then slowly leaning closer, into a tender, affectionate kiss. Her lips were soft, just like he had imagined, and they quivered from the unexpected touch. His right hand was holding onto her fragile, petite body and it slightly trembled as he felt his own heartbeat in every little nook and cranny of himself. Adrien’s heart was reaching out to the girl he was kissing, yearning no longer just for her warmth and her sunlight, but also for all of her, now that he had unintentionally dared to take a step further towards her by caressing her sweet, beautiful lips. And despite the cold winter night and their unmoving bodies, those pretty lips were warm, almost burning. In fact, her whole body seemed to heat up – or maybe it was his own. He couldn’t tell. They were too close, and Adrien was beginning to wonder if he wasn’t just caught in a dream. It seemed like a dream to him. After all, he felt like he was kissing an angel, a person too perfect to be from this world.

“Ch-at!” Marinette desperately breathed against his lips. “You’re suffocating me!”

Adrien flinched and almost let go of her. After a moment of shock he had come to a real understanding of what he had done. He was speechless and he missed the touch of Marinette’s lips where they had been mere seconds before, but he couldn’t allow himself to make her even more uncomfortable. The night had been so nice – why had he gone and ruined it?

“I’m so sorry, Marinette, I…” he began to stutter and loosened his grip on her waistline, quavering all over. She raised her hand in the blink of an eye and for a moment Adrien expected her to smack his face to punish him for his selfish deed; for kissing her without her consent. He closed his eyes shut, awaiting the well-deserved slap on his cheeks.

The slap that didn’t come. Her hands touched his face, yes, but gently, the contact shaky and insecure. And then something happened that he wouldn’t have dreamed of: Marinette – the cute girl he was slowly but steadily falling for; the classmate that always seemed to be afraid of talking to him; the person he was indefinitely and immeasurably longing for – she was kissing him back. Well, technically she was kissing his alter ego, but at this very moment, there was nothing in the world that could occupy Adrien’s thoughts besides the girl in front of him and her soft, tender touch.

Her lipstick tasted sweet as sugar as she pressed her mouth against his, not daring to move a single muscle of her body. Cautiously, Adrien returned the kiss, without wanting to risk upsetting her. His hand slowly wandered back to her hips, his thumb caressing the smooth fabric of the white dress. He knew he would have to move away from her soon, since she literally took his breath away in every way possible. They just stood there like this, her hand on his face while his rested on her waist, the fingers of their other hands slowly intertwining. She was so close that he could feel her heartbeat. It was fast, a lot quicker than normal, and their hearts seemed to be racing each other. If this kept going, he would probably collapse right into her arms. He needed air, he needed to calm down, but he didn’t want to, not at all. If this was the sacrifice he had to make just to stay with her, then he was willing to do that. Just as long as he could feel the touch of her warm lips…

A loud, beeping sound interrupted the silence, and both of them gave a start at the noise. It was coming from the ring on Chat’s right hand. Of course it was, he remembered with a sigh. It was surprising enough that Plagg had allowed him to stay with Marinette for such a long time. But by now the kwami must be completely exhausted. Adrien could be glad if his transformation would still last for another five minutes.

“Your ring,” Marinette whispered, still in shock, be it from the kiss or the piercing sound that had destroyed their moment together. “You need to leave.”

Adrien groaned as he nodded and already turned away from Marinette. The girl hesitated, he could tell that from the short glimpse he caught of her before he faced the balustrade again. For a moment he was hoping she would ask him to stay, to de-transform for her to see and be done with the secrets. But at the same time he knew that he couldn’t just tell her who he was. Not yet. Not as long as Marinette was so intimidated by his other persona. He had to be patient, or else their relationship would be ruined.

When he was completely honest with himself, he even had to admit that he wasn’t entirely sure if kissing her had been the right thing; he wasn’t completely sure of his feelings for her, and neither was she, as the way she hesitated to hold him back seemed to imply. For now, he had to retreat and hope that the next time they met things would be easier.

They wouldn’t be, and he was perfectly aware of that. He felt horrible, for having to leave just like that. After kissing his princess. ‘Just like a Casanova would,’ he thought unnerved and grimaced as he jumped on the handrail.

“I’m really sorry that I have to leave just like that, Marinette. I…” He hesitated for too long and even turned his head around to glance one last time at the beautiful princess under the starlit sky. He shouldn’t have. Seeing her like this, biting her lower lip, blue eyes fixed on the wooden floor… it made everything worse. He yanked his gaze away from her and jumped down, into the night, away from the brightest and loveliest light in his life.

He felt like the luckiest black cat alive, but at the same time he felt as sad as never before.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, that took longer than intended! But this is probably the longest chapter I've written so far :'D The next one is gonna be much shorter!
> 
> I made a fanart of how I imagined Marinette's dress to look like in the last chapter: http://lady-buginette.tumblr.com/post/136292919544/beautiful-that-was-exactly-the-word-he-needed-at (♡ﾟ▽ﾟ♡)

“Why did I do that?” Marinette’s voice grew louder as she paced the room. Following last night’s unexpected outcome she’d been in a trance and had almost immediately fallen asleep after getting ready for bed. Yet the moment she’d woken up in the morning she was suddenly overcome by the realisation that this surreal experience had most likely been… _real_ , after all. “Tell me I just had a weird dream, Tikki! Please tell me it was a dream!”

The red kwami had a hard time following the girl, and when she finally managed to hold on to her shoulder and sit down on it, she said: “I wish I could, but I didn’t see anything. You wanted to wait for him, so I thought I should give you guys some space…”

“ _Space_?!” The teenager ruffled her hair, wildly and almost aggressively – not because she was angry at Tikki, but because she was furious with herself. And maybe with Chat Noir. But that was a different matter.

“I didn’t need space, I needed someone to stop me from doing something… _that stupid_!” She let out a groan and fell onto her couch, stretching her arms and feet as far away from her as possible. Facedown into the soft cushions, she muttered again: “ _Why did I do that_?!”

The kwami who had saved herself from Marinette’s sudden leap onto the couch by flying away landed on the armrest, sighing discreetly.

“You should have told me! But from what you were saying I thought… well, that you really wanted some time alone with him. I mean, you two have been getting along very well lately,” she added with a giggle. “What did you even do on the balcony? I just heard footsteps, and then it was quiet. What happened, Marinette?”

Another groan out of the couch’s fabric. Marinette pressed her face even further into it, as if trying to hide from the world. An unintelligible sound came out of her mouth, but even when the kwami leaned closer, she couldn’t understand it. The fact that the teenager was now hiding her head under a pillow as well didn’t help at all, and Tikki seemed almost scared that her precious friend could suffocate herself.

“I’m sorry, Marinette, but I couldn’t hea…”

“I kissed him!” the black-haired girl suddenly shouted as her head jolted up in the air and her azure eyes glared at the kwami. “Okay, well, technically _he_ kissed _me_ first, but then things happened and I was confused and the mood was so weird and so I…” Marinette’s hands were gesticulating frantically and almost in a panic as the girl was trying to explain what she meant, but this only made it worse and even more confusing. Tikki’s gaze followed the wild gestures for a brief moment, before she gave up and just stared at her angry and befuddled friend.

“You two kissed?” she finally dared to ask, and as an answer Marinette’s head flung back into the cushions.

“I don’t even know why, Tikki,” she replied after a few seconds of stifled cries into the pillows. “I just wanted to see him again, but I didn’t want _that_! My heart belongs to Adrien, after all!”

Suddenly she sat up straight, terror plainly visible in her sky blue eyes. “Wait, does this mean I cheated on Adrien?!” The blank look of horror on her face almost amused Tikki, but for her friend’s sake she held back the giggle that was fighting its way out of her throat. Marinette, however, completely misunderstood the stiffened expression on the kwami’s face, so she threw her hands up in the air and fell right back onto the couch. “I knew it, I _did_ cheat on him!”

“Marinette,” the red kwami’s soft voice reached the teenager’s ear. “You haven’t cheated on _anybody_. Besides, you can’t cheat on someone you’re not even dating, can you?”

“Low blow, Tikki,” Marinette grumbled into the cushions as her kwami shook her head in disbelief and heaved a weary sigh.

“Look, Marinette, all I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t worry so much about Adrien in this case, but rather about Chat Noir. If you kissed him, there must be a reason for it, right?” Marinette’s desperate glare didn’t stop her from continuing. “Even if you don’t know the reason yet, there must be _something_. Maybe you actually like him. You two are quite close – and not only as Ladybug and her partner, but also as Marinette and Chat Noir.”

“ _Ladybug_ – that makes it even worse,” the black-haired girl growled as she rolled over on to her side to face the kwami. “I thought Chat Noir likes me as _Ladybug_. So why did he initiate the kiss with _Marinette_ in the first place?”

“Maybe his feelings changed?” Tikki suggested, shrugging her miniature shoulders. “Or he found out who you are?”

“Don’t you think he would have said something if that’s the case?” With narrowed eyes and a doubtful expression on her face, the girl stared dead ahead. Marinette couldn’t imagine someone like Chat to find out about her secret and not making it plainly obvious that he knew. But then again… this boy was a mystery, and whenever she thought he finally became an open book to her, she came to learn that it was written in a completely different language, again and again.

“Maybe I’m really starting to like him… a bit,” she eventually whispered and sighed, stood up from where she had been lying and paced the room again. “I mean, yesterday I really hoped he would visit me, even though I haven’t seen him for _weeks_. And I was so happy when he actually came… I even wanted to show him the dress I could finish thanks to his stupid present.” She turned around to look at Tikki, despair written all over her face. “ _I dressed up for this idiot_! I dressed up for _him_! Urgh!” Running a hand through her loose hair, she felt like crying. “Why does everything have to be so _complicated_ in my life? Why can’t I just be in love with someone as nice as Adrien and live happily ever after with three kids and a hamster?” She climbed onto her bed, grabbed her cat plush and hugged it for comfort.

“But no, suddenly some stupid cat boy has to appear, and be funny and nice, and be so much more nice and _human_ than he ever was around Ladybug – and then he completely ruins everything!” As she threw her dear Mr. Cat into the corner of the bed, she groaned anew. “This idiot ruined my _life_!”

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little bit, Marinette?” the gentle voice of the red kwami tried to soothe her, but the teenager didn’t want to hear any of it.

“No. No, I’m not. I’m pissed off, and if this jerk turns up at my place one more time I’m going to punch him in the face!”

Tikki bit her lip, grimacing at the girl. “Please don’t do that, Marinette,” she whispered, “You’re not like yourself when you’re angry! How about it? You go to school and do something fun with Alya afterwards, and then you’ll feel a lot better, okay?”

Marinette was back on her feet on the spot. “School!” she cried, “I almost forgot about that!”

 

This day at school had been awfully weird, and Marinette couldn’t tell which of the many reasons that caused her embarrassment were the root of it all. She acted even more awkward around Adrien, since she felt as if she cheated on him without actually doing so, and for some reason it seemed like he was trying to avoid her gaze as well – yet she caught him staring at her with what appeared to be a wary gaze once or twice. It was odd, really odd, and Marinette was almost glad when an Akuma attacked and the whole class was in a panic, which allowed her to slip away and get rid of the strange atmosphere that had followed her everywhere she went that day as long as she was her normal self.

But turning into Ladybug and having to fight an Akuma brought a different problem with it: Chat Noir. He was part of the team, and even though she wasn’t sure if he knew that he had basically kissed his crush last night, or if he was just as oblivious to it as to their first “kiss” on Valentine’s Day, she knew she had to co-operate with him even though she didn’t feel like it at all.

The fight was surprisingly easy, since no matter what happened between them, Ladybug and Chat Noir were an invincible team. Their enemy was the akumatised history teacher, who was trying to turn everyone into historical figures, because “you lazy students don’t know how to appreciate your past!” However, after having to avoid their classmates who were turned into Shakespeare, Napoleon, Einstein and Abraham Lincoln, Ladybug quickly managed to grab the encyclopaedia the teacher was holding and ripped it apart, purifying and releasing the butterfly without even having to use her Lucky Charm. Before Chat Noir could make one of his usual jokes, or even say anything of importance to her, Ladybug was gone, leaving him standing there wide-eyed and confused, his hand formed to their traditional fist bump that he was left devoid of. The look in his eyes said more than a thousand words about the disappointment he must have felt – or was it something else? Did he actually know why she acted like this? Marinette couldn’t imagine he would. She just fled, and tried her best to forget about this nagging, stinging feeling in her chest that had grown and eventually hurt like a myriad needles piercing her heart whenever she thought about that last glimpse she had gotten of him. It was too painful, and she refused unwaveringly to accept the superhero as the cause for it.

 

After all that had happened, she was absolutely sure he would turn up on her balcony the same evening. What she didn’t expect, though, was that he would turn up so early. Marinette was still busy pacing her room in anger and discussing with Tikki what she should or shouldn’t do when there was a light knock on the upper window. Before the teenager could throw another desperate glance at her kwami, the tiny magical creature had disappeared and hidden somewhere in the room. Marinette sighed in defeat and climbed the stairs to her bed.

“Marinette?” The boy’s voice sounded more hushed than usual when she opened the hatch a bit, maybe even slightly heartbroken. The girl who had sworn to punch him if he should set foot on her balcony ever again couldn’t find the strength to keep her promise. She sighed and threw the window open to let him in.

“Come in,” she mumbled and waited until he had entered the room. Once he was inside, he quickly jumped from her bed and stood as far away from her as possible. Marinette shut the hatch over her head and followed him down the stairs.

“So, what do you have to say?” she asked and her voice sounded cold – ice-cold, almost dead. She didn’t want him to know, under any circumstances, how nervous she was.

The boy scratched his head behind his cat-ears as he sat down on the pinkish couch, cross-legged and nervously playing with his bangs. “Nice to see you, too,” he whispered and folded his hands in his lap, looking up at Marinette with big, green eyes. How could she be angry at him if he gave her that look?

“Stop looking at me like a sad puppy! You’re a _cat_ , Chat!” she grumbled annoyed, “And I can’t be angry at you if you do that!”

There was a smirk on his face, for less than a second, but she saw it. Yet in the blink of an eye the smile had faded again and the gloomy look from before had taken its place. This boy definitely knew how to play with her emotions.

“Seriously, stop that! I’m angry at you! Don’t force me to… _not_ be angry!”

“What did I even do that you’re so furious? The moment I knock at your door you give me that look that says ‘I’m going to murder you’. How is a guy supposed to feel after you kissed him just the night before, princess?”

“Let’s make _one_ thing clear: You kissed me first! I was just… going with the flow, I guess.” She paused for a minute, turning her head away from Chat to regain her composure before she glared at him once more.

“Right,” he grumbled, and Marinette was sure that she had never before seen him so annoyed. His irritation had never been directed at her, since he admired Ladybug with all his heart, and treated Marinette like a princess. Well, until now at least.

“Okay, I might have kissed you back, but that was probably a mistake on my behalf,” she gave in when the grief returned to his beamless eyes. “My heart belongs to someone else, you know? I can’t cheat on him like that!”

The boy’s eyes were wide open straightaway, green orbs staring at her in disbelief. “Wait, you have a _boyfriend_?!” he almost shouted, but stopped himself from doing so and turned it into a hushed cry instead.

Marinette was facing the wall that was plastered with pictures of Adrien, and contorted her face. She didn’t want to have this conversation, but if it helped to calm both him and her very own emotions down, then she would have to do it. She didn’t want to admit in the least that she might – really just _might!_ – develop feelings for her partner that were beyond mere friendship. She couldn’t admit just like this that being around Chat Noir caused her to have butterflies in her stomach, and that her heart was aflutter and beat faster than usual now that he was in her room again after such a long time. She just couldn’t.

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend,” she muttered and sighed, not sure how to phrase the following words. Chat was quicker though.

“Wait, so you have a _girlfriend_?” he asked, even more confused, and Marinette swung around to shake her head frantically.

“No! Jeez, no, listen for what I’ve got to say before you make assumptions!”

The boy was silent and stared at his hands, his mind unquestionably running berserk. But he listened to what he had been told and didn’t say another word, giving the girl enough time to clear her thoughts. She could feel his green eyes following her a few seconds after she started pacing the room again, eyes half-closed and massaging her temples with both hands.

“Okay. So. I’ve got this crush that I will never ever have a chance with, but my heart belongs to him, and I can’t just give it to someone else, no matter how… nice you might make me feel or how goddamn funny you are, or how much I crave your presence, or…” She clasped her hands above her mouth, glimpsing at the blond boy to see if he understood what she had just uttered without intending to. He, however, looked just as bewildered as before, so she sighed in relief.

“All I’m trying to say is that yesterday was probably a mistake, and that I can’t give my heart to someone else just like that. Besides, I thought you’re in love with Ladybug!”

Chat jumped from the couch and strode over to Marinette, stopping right in front of her. For the first time in the boy’s presence she felt actually intimidated by him. He was so much taller than her and she felt small, even tiny compared to him. His eyes were fixed on her, emeralds trying to pierce holes into her mind, trying to read her thoughts. She didn’t like it at all, but she couldn’t slow her heartbeat down before he noticed.

“Who said I didn’t change my mind?” he whispered, almost purred, and to her it sounded like he was trying to be seductive. That was enough for her to try to push him away. He was standing too close to her anyway.

“Well, good for you, but _my_ feelings didn’t change, and they never will, so just forget about it. Let’s go back to being friends, because this was all just a stupid mistake. I shouldn’t have played along with your whole ‘Cinderella at the ball’ thing yesterday, especially since _you_ were the one who had to leave so suddenly, you diva!” she said louder than intended, until she almost spit the last few words in his face. He didn’t flinch, and the girl’s hands on his torso that were trying to push him away couldn’t even make him move a bit. For the first time she realised how weak she was compared to him when her powers weren’t amplified by Tikki and the Miraculous. When she tried to step away from him, she bumped against her work desk and clasped the edge of the table to steady herself, unintentionally leaning backwards to keep him at a certain distance. She looked up and glared at Chat Noir, completely in a daze as the blood rushed to her head, but he didn’t show the slightest inclination to step away from her. His clear, green eyes were narrowed to slits and his lips formed a serious, straight line as he leaned towards her, and he seemed to be of two minds about how to react.

“Marinette!” he said eventually, almost just as loudly as her, but caught himself before he resorted to shouting himself. “Princess,” he corrected himself and tried to lay a hand on the girl’s shoulder, which she quickly shoved aside. “Don’t you think it’s mean to build my hopes up with… looking so incredibly pretty yesterday, and even kissing me back, and then just say that you won’t even give me a chance? And that you just want to be friends? I promise you, I won’t kiss you again if you don’t want me to, but it’s going to be hard to just get back to where we were…” He shook his head and groaned. “Look at me, I sound like a drama queen straight out of a soap opera. What are you doing to me, princess?”

“What am I…? Listen, monsieur self-acclaimed ‘knight’, I’m doing nothing here, _you_ were the one who started this nonsense, _you_ are the one trying to guilt-trip me and I just…”

Her voice had been too loud. She hadn’t heard the knock on her door, and now the worried eyes of her mother were glimpsing through the gap between the floor and the door.

“I heard screaming, is everything okay?” The woman’s eyes suddenly grew wide when she saw the boy standing in front of her daughter, surprisingly close given the fact that the girl had never even let most boys into her room – especially not someone who she recognised as the hero of Paris. Sabine was at a loss for words, and so was Chat Noir. He had never intended to appear in front of Marinette’s parents like this. But it was too late now.

“Am I… interrupting something?” Sabine asked nervously, her gaze wandering from her daughter to her visitor and back, giving the girl a questioning look. Marinette’s lips were slightly parted from shock, but she couldn’t get a single word out of her mouth. Chat was the first one to regain his composure.

“Sorry, Madame Cheng,” he mumbled and tried to hide his embarrassment with a friendly smile that reminded Marinette so much of someone else she knew, even though she still couldn’t put her finger on it. “We were just having a discussion here. I didn’t want to disturb you, madame, so I can leave immediately if I somehow interrupted your work.” He tried his best to sound polite and charming, but knowing the way he usually talked, the girl could hear the uneasiness in his voice.

“Oh, no, don’t worry.” The woman’s face lit up as she heard the words carefully uttered by Marinette’s partner. She smiled, almost grinned at her daughter and turned to face the boy again who still had this nice, soothing expression on his visage. “I was just about to call Marinette down for dinner when I heard the shouting, so I got a bit worried. But it wasn’t something bad, I guess?”

Marinette considered her reply for a moment, then she slowly shook her head, her heavy-lidded eyes still fixed on the ground. This was so embarrassing, she couldn’t believe it was happening.

“How about you join us for dinner?” her mother suddenly asked and the girl’s head jolted up, her azure eyes wide in shock as she stared at her mother.

“Mom!” she shouted, but Chat next to her just grinned and bit his lip, before he turned to Marinette.

“I would love to, but I don’t think your daughter would like that, right?”

Marinette kept silent, her cheeks suddenly as red as a bouquet of roses. ‘This can’t be happening’ was the only thought that went through her mind over and over again, constantly playing on repeat, ‘this _really_ is like a bad soap opera, he was totally right about that. Oh god…’

“Nonsense, I think Marinette would like that very much,” her mother replied, far too oblivious and trusting, like she usually was. Maybe Marinette was a bit like this too, she thought and sighed, completely defeated. Of course she was angry at Chat, but she knew that she was treating him unfairly, that he wasn’t completely at fault and that she was just as much to blame for the emotional chaos he caused inside of her. Both her heart and brain were driven crazy by him and were in constant arguments about what was right and what was wrong, so she was glad this one decision had been taken from her by her mom. However, this meant Chat Noir would be joining them for dinner, and she wasn’t sure what she should think about that. It was kind of… surreal.

“Should I really…?” he whispered and glimpsed at the girl next to him. Suddenly confronted with this situation, he seemed so small and insecure, and absolutely different. He acted like a teenage boy just like any other, and at this very moment Marinette realised that she almost forgot he was a person with a normal life, exactly like her – even though he was dressed in a leather suit and a mask right now, which was definitely not “normal”.

This thought made a grin appear on her lips, and the boy’s face brightened up as well. He took it as a yes, and she didn’t even mind that much anymore. Besides the fact that this dinner would probably end up being totally awkward, she wouldn’t be the one who’s the main focus of the embarrassment at least. Maybe she was even a bit gleeful at his upcoming misery, if it would end up like that.

 

“We have a visitor?” Tom Dupain was putting his apron aside, eying the boy with what seemed to be both joy and suspicion. He didn’t mind a guest at their dinner table, that was for sure, but being a father he was sure to get wary, especially if he didn’t even see the boy enter his daughter’s room. The fact that the person was a famous superhero was adding to that, but Marinette wasn’t sure if it was in disfavour or favour of her partner. Knowing her kind father, though, it was probably the latter.

“Hello, Monsieur Dupain,” Chat said politely and even slightly bowed his head. Marinette could hear her mother giggle behind her back – she clearly enjoyed the boy’s manners, yet the girl couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Chat Noir was starting off well with both of her parents, but in a really weird way. Besides, it wasn’t like she wanted to have him here at their dinner table ever again.

“I’m Chat Noir, you might know me from the news,” the blond teen finally added with a surprisingly soft smile. “I can’t tell you my real name, though, for reasons you probably understand.”

Both Marinette and her mother snorted at the same time, and while Sabine went to lay the table, her daughter added: “You know, ‘secret identity’ and so on. As a superhero you sometimes can’t even tell the people closest to you who you really are.” She meant to tell it as a joke, but halfway through the sentence she realised how true it was for her case as well. Not even her parents or her best friend knew about her identity. There was something inside of her that was scared of showing that she was Ladybug, since she was afraid of so many things. The worst was her fear of disappointing everyone around her. Not only her friend Alya, who adored her alter ego so much, but also everyone who expected Ladybug to be that brave, courageous lady that was going through her life without a single doubt in her heart, clearing her path with the strength inside of her and not being bothered by any obstacles. Marinette felt nothing like that powerful, independent woman, so she was scared of the disapproval of everyone who loved her as ‘Ladybug’.

She felt Chat’s green irises rest on her after she had uttered those words. She expected his gaze to be amused, his emerald orbs to be smiling along with his lips, but she was met with a completely different sight when she looked back at him. His eyes were wide-open, even slightly surprised, and it seemed like he had just noted down another thing about Marinette he didn’t expect – or expected, but hadn’t seen yet. Had her words been too obvious? Did he actually suspect something about her? The girl still couldn’t believe it, but that look on his face, the hint of realisation in his shimmering eyes, made her question her own thoughts about him.

“I don’t mind you two staring at each other like you’re the only people in the world, but please still answer my question,” Sabine’s amused voice reverberated in Marinette’s head. She had completely forgotten where she was for a few seconds, while she was looking into the void of Chat Noir’s eyes, and he was staring right back at her. The reflection of her own bewildered gaze in his vision dissipated and she was back in the reality of her home.

“I… what? Sorry, mom, I didn’t…?” she stuttered, completely befuddled by what was going on, and she could see Chat move his head just as awkwardly as her. He had been too distracted as well, as it seemed. Neither of them had heard Sabine’s question.

“I asked you what you want to drink,” the woman repeated her question. “We have mineral water, coke and orange juice.”

“Water is fine by me,” Chat replied, quick like a shot, while Marinette still tried to clear her thoughts.

“Yeah, water,” she mumbled and bit her lip as she walked to her chair at the end of the table and collapsed into it. The blond boy was seated next to her, on her right side, and they both sat there in awkward silence until Marinette’s parents finally lifted the mood by putting the food on the table. It was something simple, just some house-made bread from their very own bakery and many extras, like cheese, tomatoes, eggs and salad. Since it was such a plain meal, Marinette glimpsed at Chat and expected a disappointed look on his face, but was instead met with a joyful smile that seemed so bright and warm that she was bewildered for a second. Had he never had something like this to eat before, or was it something else that made him shine like the sun? The way he stared at the food, at the table and then at the family sitting there implied that he had scarcely shared a meal with anyone before. ‘That can’t be, no one has their meals on their own all the time, right?’ she asked herself, but somehow doubted it. After all, Chat Noir’s reaction had basically told her otherwise: He was extremely happy to be sitting at this dining table, so the fact that it was just a simple meal didn’t matter to him. She was almost glad that she hadn’t rejected him right away. This cheerful smile that was carved into his face made her heart jump and dance, like on a long, joyful victory parade, and her pinkish lips could only imitate the boy’s. Seeing Chat so delighted pleased her as well, even if she wouldn’t dare to admit it. Not yet.

“So, Chat Noir,” Tom started saying after he gulped down a whole piece of bread with tomatoes and mozzarella. “You’re friends with Marinette? I didn’t know my daughter had such famous friends.” He turned his head and looked towards the direction of the girl’s room. “Maybe Ladybug is hiding somewhere in there, too? Are the three of you friends?”

Of course he had meant it as a joke, and the way the middle-aged man laughed made that very clear. But Marinette gulped and shrank back into her chair. Yes, Ladybug was in fact hiding somewhere in this house, and she was technically friends with Chat Noir and Marinette, but the black-haired girl couldn’t just say that without making everyone in this room absolutely suspicious.

“Oh, Marinette and I worked together once and I guess we became friends after that,” Chat answered courteously and shot the girl a glance. It was as if he promised her not to tell the truth to her parents, for the sake of both of them, and Marinette was really glad. If her mother and father knew about the fact that Chat visited her once in a while at night, and that they had even kissed on the balcony less than twenty-four hours ago, Tom probably wouldn’t let the boy back into their house ever again. Okay, maybe he wouldn’t be so drastic, Marinette reconsidered, but it would definitely change the way they saw him, both as a hero and a human being.

“And she doesn’t know your secret identity as well, even though you’re friends?” Now it was Marinette’s mother who got inquisitive, staring at Chat with curious grey eyes. The boy returned her gaze and seemed to be focused on her for a few seconds, before he turned away and regarded the food in front of him. He had barely touched it yet, and it seemed to Marinette like he had just realised how similar both mother and daughter actually were. It was true, they had the same soft smile and lively nature, and their hair was the same, ebony black, smooth as silk. Just their eyes were different, since Marinette’s were of a bright blue she had neither directly inherited from her father nor her mother. Chat smiled down at his hands on the table top. He seemed to take pleasure in realising that.

“No, I don’t,” Marinette considered it her job to answer. “Like I said before: a hero’s identity is very important, and you can’t just tell it to everyone. Even your friends.” She nodded, as to reassure herself that this was the correct rejoinder to that question, and glimpsed at her partner again, who just bowed his head and smiled.

“That is absolutely correct,” he said, softer and quieter than usual, and the teenagers’ eyes met for half a second, before their heads shot back to their prior positions again. Marinette was sure that she saw the amused grin on her mother’s face and the short wink she gave her husband.

“Oh, I understand,” Tom affirmed and attended to his meal again. He put two pieces of cheese on his bread before he bit into it and gave the others time to think.

“Do you want some more of this bread, dear?” Sabine asked and held out a bowl full of other kinds of bread, all from the bakery, and handed it over the table to Chat, who gladly took it.

“Thank you,” he said with the same joyful expression on his face he had had since the very beginning of dinnertime. “I suppose you made this yourself? It is really tasty, I haven’t had anything like this before!”

Marinette rolled her eyes. Yes, it was good that her partner was so polite and nice to her parents, but he exaggerated so much she almost felt second-hand embarrassment. She remembered that he had once told her he felt lonely at home, yes, but it was still hard to believe that anyone could get so overly excited about normal, simple bread and an awkward family dinner. It didn’t sound logical to the baker’s daughter, unless he had really meant it; unless he really was an isolated teenager, stuck in an empty home without parents that cared about him; unless…

No. She shook her head. Thoughts were forming in her mind and she didn’t like them. She didn’t want them to materialise, since it felt like they would be ground-breaking yet disturbing. She shot a help-seeking glance at the other people on the dining table, but was only met with the bright faces of her parents.

While the girl herself had disregarded Chat Noir’s exaggerated praise of their baker’s ware, both her mother and father seemed to be especially pleased. Sabine even blushed slightly and gave her husband a look that basically shouted: “I really like this boy!”

But instead of saying this, she returned her gaze to her daughter, and then to the boy next to her.

“I really hope I’m seeing my future son-in-law here,” she stated while smiling overjoyed. “You should definitely keep him. He has really good manners.”

Marinette’s cheeks adopted the colour of the tomatoes she had just stuffed into her mouth to keep out of this awkward conversation. She spluttered a hardly intelligible “Mom!” and had to press a hand in front of her lips to stop the tomatoes from leaving the same way as the words, which would make her seem even less graceful to everyone present. She heard Chat’s nervous chuckle from her right side, but didn’t dare to look at him. She was flustered enough as it was.

Why did parents always have to be so embarrassing and awkward? In secrecy she was just really glad that it wasn’t Adrien who saw her being mocked like this by her very own family. Thank god it was just Chat Noir…

 

The most horrifying dinner ever – at least in Marinette’s opinion – finally ended after it had been dragged out for far too long by her parents and Chat Noir, who all seemed to have found a new way to entertain themselves by joking about this and that, and some of the jokes were partly at the expense of Marinette’s own pride. She was incredibly relieved when her parents finally released her from this banquet and told the teens to leave the rest to them.

“Don’t worry, I’m going home soon,” Chat had promised without even being asked – thinking about it, Marinette even came to the conclusion that her parents wouldn’t mind if the boy stayed longer and told them more jokes and weird puns. ‘Those three are made for each other,’ she reckoned with a grim expression on her face as she climbed the stairs to her room, her partner following on her tail.

“Did you enjoy making fun of me?” she asked the moment he had closed the hatch behind him. He stood up straight and stared at her, wide-eyed and surprised. Then he slowly shook his head, and his long, blond bangs fell in front of his mask, so he had to push them aside to allow the girl a glimpse at his face. His gaze was one of honesty, and she regretted her choice of words immediately. After two years at his side she should have known that he wouldn’t make fun of her like this on purpose, neither when she was Ladybug nor Marinette. He wasn’t the kind of person who did that. For him, it had been either an honest conversation or well-meant banter. Marinette’s lips slightly parted as a soft stream of air escaped them in a sigh.

“Alright, sorry, I was just a bit sulky, I guess,” she muttered and went over to the tailor’s dummy. Last night’s dress decorated it again, and she stared at it for a while to get the awkward dinner off her mind. Instead, the scenes from her birthday reappeared, and she gulped. That was not the kind of distraction she had yearned for.

What she had secretly yearned for, however, even though she wasn’t willing to admit it in the least, was Chat’s presence, being close to her. And he was; in the blink of an eye he was standing right behind her, following her gaze towards the white and rose coloured dress.

“It _really_ is pretty, princess,” he whispered, too close to her ear. His breath sent shivers down her spine and she winced slightly, trying her best not to let her growing uneasiness show.

“I know. You said so yesterday,” she muttered under her shallow, faint breath. He really was too close. Why did he have such a talent for making her feel so weak on her knees, and at the same time so strong that she could move mountains, even though she didn’t have her alter ego’s superpowers?

“I just wanted to tell you again… princess.”

Just now she realised that he hadn’t called her by this moniker even once during their meal, and that was what had seemed so completely wrong and different about him. Before she knew it, some treacherously honest side of herself admitted to her heart: ‘Yes, you _do_ crave his strange ways of talking to you. You love how he treats you like a princess. In fact, you’re just another normal girl that wants to be special.’ She knew that she was special, in one way or another, since being a superhero came with this bonus – but this was another kind of “special”, and how could she ever admit that she was longing for this, when she was still trying to fight a war against herself. The side that was giving into her feelings towards her hilariously silly partner was still battling the one who was desperately clinging to her love for Adrien. Wonderful, perfect Adrien.

The movement of Chat’s paw on her shoulder yanked her out of her mind palace and she flinched. She hadn’t realised that his hand had been there. Marinette didn’t even dare to turn around. If she would, their faces would be too close again, and…

Before her train of thoughts could come to an end and a conclusion, the fingers disappeared from her shoulder and the warm, familiar breath on her neck was far, far away again. The boy had moved to the foot of the stairs leading up to the window in a split second, and even though he was facing the bed and hiding his mimics from her, Marinette was sure he was flustered. He had realised how intimate this whole situation had been – or maybe he was just too scared to ruin their relationship any further. The black-haired girl bit her lip, her face taking on a darker shade of red. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to risk it all or not.

“I should leave now,” Chat Noir said and tried to sound as cheerful as ever, but he couldn’t completely hide the uneasiness in his tone. He climbed the stairs and jumped through the window unto the balcony, and Marinette was in a great hurry to follow him up there. When she reached the terrace, he was already balancing on the balustrade, like he always did when he was about to leave. Except this time he stared at the ground, as if he was contemplating to say something that had been nagging his mind for a long time. Then he raised his head and opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Marinette took this chance and walked over to him, so quickly that he looked quite surprised and slightly staggered.

When she stopped in front of him, he still hadn’t found the right words to say, so his eyes started to inspect everything on the balcony that wasn’t her, trying his best to completely avoid the girl’s gaze. It annoyed her tremendously, and after watching his green orbs flicker into every possible direction for about two silent minutes, she angrily grabbed his head with both of her hands, focusing it on her.

“Would you please stop doing that? You’re driving me crazy!” she grumbled with pouty lips. The boy’s gaze was forcefully directed at her face and his eyes were instantly drawn towards her mouth. She could see how a bright colour, as red as her kwami, spread over his cheeks as he remembered the last night he had been on the very same balcony. And even Marinette couldn’t help but blush the moment her partner’s emerald eyes wandered up to her own, their gazes meeting once again, yet this time in closer proximity. There had been many awkward silences today, but this one was by far the worst, the most taunting tranquillity she had ever experienced. Once again, she could see herself reflected in the boy’s irises, and as the thick clouds parted and revealed the now finally full moon on the firmament, its shining light illuminated the rooftop and created a sudden, calm atmosphere that not only made her more relaxed than she expected, but also made her realise how amazingly pretty her partner actually was.

Never before had she given his looks any consideration, since her heart had been claimed by none other than Adrien. But now she realised for the first time the golden shine of Chat Noir’s hair in the bright moonlight, and the green that filled his eyes reminded her of meadows in spring. Strands of gold tinted with a silvery glow fell into his face as he gaped back at her, and the shimmering lights from the sky made his soft skin gleam where the mask, as black as the night itself, didn’t hide it. His shoulders were hoisted, like a scared little cat, and his lips opened and closed again and again, making Marinette think of a fish out of the water. Chat Noir was confused, star-struck and definitely not in his element. And for the first time in forever the girl simply thought: ‘The heck with it!’

In the twinkling of an eye her previously lowered, small hands had grabbed his face again, pulling him closer to her and making him almost fall from the railing. Her lips pressed against his, and unlike the previous night, he was the one who stiffened in surprise and disbelief. For a few seconds, his claws were still clenched on the balustrade, trying to regain his balance, but then they slowly and carefully reached out for Marinette’s shoulders and wandered up to her face, cupping it cautiously in his claw-like paws, not wanting to hurt her or prompting her to push away from him. She sighed into the kiss when she felt the cold metal of his black ring on her cheeks, and even though it was freezing outside, his hands were warm and filled her with a heat she didn’t expect to be humanly possible. Hearts beating fast, yet in the solemn silence only the two of them could hear it, and breathless touches of lips upon lips were everything that filled the minds of the teens on the balcony during this short, magical moment. Marinette didn’t dare to open her eyes when the kiss eventually ended.

The warm, gentle hands still rested on her cheeks even though the lips were gone, but the lingering feeling still suffused her with unexpected joy and ease. She loosened the grip on his head, resting her arms on his shoulders and interlacing her fingers behind his neck. The beeping sound from his ring was barely audible, and after mere seconds it was almost forgotten. All she could see or think about was the catlike boy sitting on the balustrade, trying his best to keep his balance and hold unto the girl at the same time. She knew he would have to leave soon, but she didn’t want to think about it during this enchanting moment, wishing it would last forever.

‘I’m going to regret this tomorrow morning,’ an almost inaudible voice hidden somewhere in the deepest parts of her mind said as Marinette slowly ran a hand through Chat Noir’s hair. ‘I’m sorry, Adrien,’ the voice added and was ignored.

Under the star-spangled firmament and the full moon glowing at the sky that wrapped the two teenagers in a radiant, heavenly light, their lips met again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a tough fight for me, and I would probably still work on it if it hadn't been for my wonderful editor's help ♡  
> But now that I got this out of my system I can finally focus on the MariChat dynamic itself ;3  
> (If you wanna, let me know if you liked my explanation in this chapter, because I'm kinda scared it did not really live up to your expectations OTL)

In his dreams, he had kissed these soft, pink lips a thousand times. He had seen their heart shaped form when the girl puckered them, closed her azure eyes and leaned in to return his show of affection. He had felt them on his jaw, his collar bone, his arms and shoulders. He had seen the girl’s delicate body lying in front of him, giving him the most precious and innocent smile, while she raised her petite hands, inviting him to get closer. Dreams such as these showed him that even if he was supposed to be a hero and role model, in the end he was just a normal teenage boy – a boy in love. But the girl had never minded when he got embarrassed about that; she had wrapped her arms around his torso or reached for his face and pulled him down to her. In his dreams, she wanted to be close to him and told him that she loved him as she ran her fingers through his hair and let him shower her body with tender kisses.

He had guessed that this mysterious girl in his dreams was Ladybug, the person he adored and loved from afar. But lately, whenever he had that dream, the blurry lines finally started to form a coherent picture, and he began to realise that the shimmering blue eyes, orbs like sapphires, weren’t hidden behind any mask, and the black hair, gleaming like an onyx in the dim light, belonged to a different girl. The ravishing beauty in his dreams wasn’t Ladybug at all.

And the night he had kissed Marinette on the balcony for the second time, when her hands reached out for him and gently ruffled his hair as he caressed her cheeks, he had finally realised who it was – who it had probably been the whole time. It was Marinette, the girl with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. His princess who shone like the sun whenever she was happy, and through whose eyes he could see the heavens above. He had never been entirely aware of it before, but that night he had eventually understood for how long he had admired her; how long he had yearned for her warmth, for the bright flame burning inside her and the feeling of comfort that filled the atmosphere wherever she went. He yet hesitated to put a definite name to his longing since his heart was still confused about both Marinette and Ladybug alike, but there was definitely a strong connection between Adrien and his classmate. They were so close to each other, intimate on an almost metaphysical level – so close and yet so far, he had to admit, since he still couldn’t tell what was going on in her pretty, little head most of the time. But he could tell that their hearts had intertwined long before he had kissed or touched her. It was even more a reason why he now wanted to have her at his side wherever he was. He couldn’t exactly pin down when it had happened that he felt like this, or when he had realised that there was something in Marinette that interested him, that cast a spell on him more than a normal friend or classmate could – she seemed more like a soulmate to him with each passing day. Maybe her radiant presence had already drawn him in the first moment he had laid eyes on her. Or maybe it had happened in a slower pace, over the course of the two years he had known her that Marinette had pulled him into her field of gravity. Whenever it had been, it didn’t change much for the boy.

The only thing that mattered to him after the kiss on the balcony under the luminous light of the full moon was that Marinette existed, here, in this world, in this city, where he lived as well – that she was a part of his life and made him feel whole again. He knew he would fight for her if he had to, and he would do whatever it took to be close to her. He was helpless whenever she smiled – and for once he liked the feeling of being defenceless, even if he had superpowers no one else could ever dream of. And it made him feel human again. Her presence showed him that he was a human being with emotions and desires. He never would have imagined the strength that this simple fact made course through his veins, a power beyond the magic of any Miraculous, yet here he was. He knew he could accomplish anything when she was with him.

‘Maybe,’ he wondered, ‘I should just tell her about who I really am and be done with the secrets.’

‘That’s stupid,’ the part of Adrien that was always trying to hide from the world retorted. ‘You would scare her away.’

He gave up on that idea.

 

A sharp, piercing pain in his nose yanked him out of his deep slumber and back into consciousness. The boy’s hand shot up to his face, pulling at the thing that was hurting him, and tried to slap it aside reflexively. Then he finally opened his eyes, previously shut tight, and two green irises were staring right back at him, heavy-lidded and weary. The blond hair of the boy gawking at him was dishevelled and a complete mess, sticking out at every possible place. His face looked pale in the dim light of his room, and that’s when he realised what he was actually seeing there: the shape he could make out in front of him was his own body and visage – or rather: it was his reflection. He was staring at his mirror image in the window, brought into being by the soft shine of his room’s nightlight. Someone must have actuated the lamp’s switch. Someone must have tried to wake him up…

A groan from the small creature he had pushed away and thrown to the ground pulled him back into reality and he knew on the spot what had happened. Again!

He kneeled down and grabbed the kwami lying a few feet away on the grey floor, rolling from side to side and moaning in feigned pain. Once he had gotten a hold of Plagg, the magical creature shot him the angriest and nastiest glare he had ever seen.

“I’m trying to help you and that’s how you thank me,” he groaned in his scratchy, tired voice and yawned. “You didn’t even wake up when I turned on the lights and screamed in your ear, so I just…”

“Sorry for hitting you,” Adrien whispered guiltily and touched his nose where it hurt. He could feel two small spots where Plagg’s sharp teeth had been mere seconds ago, and noted that tiny droplets of blood where forming at the bite marks. Well, it could have been worse – it was nothing a little bit of make-up couldn’t hide. And besides, he had told Plagg to try his best to wake him should he revert to sleepwalking again. He couldn’t be angry at the kwami in the least – it was the exact opposite, actually. He was thankful and felt terrible for hurting his friend while he was still half-asleep.

“You better be,” Plagg grumbled and flew back into the air. “I deserve a midnight snack for this torture!”

Adrien glanced at the clock on his desk. It was far past midnight, but the kwami was right either way. He deserved something as an apology, so the teenager went over to the table to grab the box full of cheese and unlocked it, slowly pulling out a piece of camembert and opening his mouth to tell Plagg to get it – but the kwami was faster than him. Before he could say anything, Plagg had rescued his beloved camembert from the boy’s claws and kissed the cheese before taking a bite.

While the tiny creature was busy with its food, the blond boy faced the window again. He was glad to see it was still locked – his kwami had acted fast enough before he could have opened the door to his freedom… or rather his doom, since he was still in his normal human form. He had gotten stronger ever since he became Chat Noir, but he still couldn’t perform tricks like his alter ego could. A jump from this height was more dangerous than he could possibly imagine. Adrien heaved a sigh. He was quite lucky that Plagg cared so much for him, even if he would never admit it. But he always woke up whenever the teenager had these weird sleepwalking problems, and he managed to stop him ever since the first few weeks.

“Hey, Adrien,” the kwami’s croaky voice came from the desk behind the boy’s back. Before he could turn around, his friend continued in a serious tone: “Your mother and I need to have a word with you, boy.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow and glanced at the kwami over his shoulder. Plagg was sitting in front of the three monitors, the rest of the camembert lying on the table directly beside him. He had put one of his tiny arms around the piece of cheese and had a surprisingly serious look on his face that made Adrien chuckle. Once the boy stood in front of both kwami and “mother” camembert, Plagg decided his cheesy partner was no longer needed and gulped it down in one piece.

“You ate mom!” Adrien hissed in playful banter and smirked. “But okay, ‘dad’, what is it you need to talk about?”

The black kwami’s eyes narrowed, yet he grinned from ear to ear as his whiskers bobbed excitedly. “I guess there’s something you should know,” he muttered and stared at the boy in front of him. Adrien nodded and sat down on his bed, flattening the folds in his pyjama before facing the kwami again.

“Okay, I wasn’t quite sure about this until now and I still ain’t,” Plagg mumbled and twirled his right whisker with his small paw, “but I have some suspicions about your… sleepwalking issue here.”

The teenager’s eyes opened wide and his lips parted as if he wanted to gasp in surprise, but nothing came out. He just stared at the black kwami in expectation. If the creature actually had an idea why he was having these troubles, maybe there was also a way to stop them?

“I have to go a bit back in time for this, actually,” the kwami continued with a yawn and tilted backwards until he lay on the desk’s cold, grey surface. “A loooong time, but I don’t wanna talk about all of this too much. It’s too boring. Too much background info,” he groaned and turned over to rest on his full stomach.

Adrien nodded, urging him on. Whatever it was, he wanted to know. No matter how tired he had been mere minutes ago, he was wide awake now.

“Sooo… You know how Ladybug presents good luck, and Chat Noir is bad luck? It’s about that,” the kwami blurted out, glancing at Adrien who returned the look, completely confused. What had Ladybug to do with his problem, and how did luck in general concern this matter?

“It has always been like that… Every Chat Noir feels a strong connection to Ladybug because she represents luck, and she is the _easiest_ way to stop Chat Noir’s bad luck from happening, basically.” Another raised eyebrow from Adrien’s side told the kwami that he had no idea where he was getting at with this story. Sure, he knew about the luck thing involving the superheroes, but what had any of this to do with _anything_?

“What I’m trying to say is that Chat Noir is drawn towards his cause of luck and happiness,” Plagg continued, already sounding annoyed from having to explain so much to someone who clearly didn’t understand his gibberish. “I mean… it’s usually Ladybug who is more famous and gets more credit for what the duo does, and it has always been like that. This is part of Chat Noir’s bad luck, I guess. I mean… do you remember _any_ famous Chat Noir? I sure don’t,” the kwami grumbled and rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know any famous Ladybugs besides the current one!” Adrien retorted hastily, but Plagg just snorted.

“Well, there was Jeanne D’Arc for once. And Mulan – even though history got them all wrong, to be fair. They are still pretty famous, even though not for the right things in general,” the black creature said with an amused chuckle, before the grim expression returned to his face. “But whatever, it’s still usually Ladybug who gets all the love and praise of the world, and Chat Noir chases after luck to feel happy as well. Unsuccessfully, most of the time.”

“Okay…?” That was it, Plagg had lost him. Almost, at least. Sure, he got what his catlike friend was trying to tell him, but he still couldn’t see the leitmotif of the story the kwami was narrating. Where was the sleepwalking in all of this? “But what has that to do with me?”

“Wait, I’m getting there! I’m doing you a huge favour with this, alright? I don’t wanna talk about complicated stuff in the middle of the night just for fun, you nyau?” Plagg grumbled, eyes only half open and glaring in the blond boy’s direction.

“Alright, alright, I’m listening,” Adrien replied hastily and raised his arms in a defensive gesture, so Plagg sighed and continued.

“Like I was saying, Chat Noir basically chases after his very own ‘Lucky Charm’ all the time, and in most cases this has been Ladybug – for obvious reasons. Therefore many previous Chat Noirs fell in love with Ladybug because of that. Or for different reasons. I couldn’t care less.” Another long-drawn-out yawn interrupted the story. “Heh, one Chat Noir even thought that Ladybug’s kiss could ‘cure this back luck curse’, even though he was actually a quite fortunate boy in his everyday life. Pff, he was a pretty melodramatic person, to be honest. I mean, _of course_ this is nonsense, but he didn’t believe me.”

Plagg stuck out his tongue and shook his head, mumbling something that sounded a lot like “idiot!” before he continued. “But you are the first one to show… _that_ kind of behaviour.”

“What kind of behaviour?” Adrien’s shining, green eyes were wide open, his brows raised, and the chaotic confusion in his brain due to this new information was painfully obvious.

“Well, the sleepwalking, of course!” Plagg responded and rolled his eyes, almost adding a “duh”. “Like I said, Chat Noir usually gets drawn towards his own lucky charm, and sometimes shows even _obsessional_ behaviour for whatever promises to make him happy. And usually this is Ladybug, but in your case… well… apparently not. Or not any longer.”

Adrien was gaping by now. It didn’t make perfect sense to him yet, but the image was starting to get clearer. If all this was true and not just some weird dream he was having right now, it meant that… Marinette was his lucky charm? Really?

“You’re saying that Chat Noir usually falls for Ladybug because she symbolises luck?” he asked, still a bit at a loss about this part. Plagg nodded slowly and immediately shook his head afterwards.

“Yes. No. Both. It’s not necessarily romantic feelings between Ladybug and Chat Noir. Heck, there have been combinations of the two where they have been siblings, and that would have been… really weird, wouldn’t it?” The kwami snorted at the flustered expression on the teenager’s face. “But yes, there is always a very strong connection between the both of them, and this destined connection very, veeeery often turns into love. Not necessarily mutual, but it happened a few times before.”

“So you think that Ladybug is no longer my ‘Lucky Charm’, but… the reason for my sleepwalking is…?” Adrien stuttered, not quite sure if he liked what this ultimately meant for him. If his “love” for Ladybug was partly a result of fate having its claws in the pie, it would feel kind of wrong to him. But his growing affection for Marinette on the other hand…?

“That cute girl from your class, yes. That’s my guess at least,” the catlike creature muttered and sat up straight again, ogling the box of cheese close to him. “She could be your lucky charm, and since you’ve been having trouble sleeping for a while now, your search for happiness might have taken over your sleeping body. _Maybe_.”

The teenager kept silent. Yes, there was a possibility this was true. Of course, the whole Lucky Charm thing could only be the catalyst for his sleepwalking problem, he assumed, and not the complete reason. The causes were most likely his personal issues, his mental troubles he had due to his work as a model, his obligations and tasks, and most of it all: his father and the futile yearning for his appreciation, as well as the crippling fear of disapproval. He wasn’t quite sure about it, but he could have sworn he had read something along the lines of ‘especially during teenage years, sleep deprivation and mental trouble can lead to sleepwalking’. Well, it would explain at least a few things if this was the case.

“To be honest, now that I think about it, you’ve done weird things in your sleep before,” the kwami continued and smirked when Adrien’s face turned red, then he slowly added: “No, not like that. I meant sleepwalking related things. Like…you woke up in the middle of the night sometimes, mumbled something and fell back into bed and slept. I didn’t think it was anything special, nya…”

Adrien sighed in relief and leaned back on his mattress, staring at the ceiling. If he had shown symptoms before, then Chat Noir’s search for happiness could have been the cause that eventually led him out of his room at night once it had become too much trouble for a lonely teenager to handle, moving him closer and closer to his princess until he had eventually ended up in her bed instead. He grimaced at this thought; this little accident had been both completely awkward and yet amusing and calming. It was a memory he would definitely never forget.

“What I don’t understand, though, is why you are one of the few exceptions that don’t see Ladybug as their lucky charm,” Plagg mumbled, deep in thought as he let his whiskers droop. “You didn’t seem that interested in your classmate before…”

Adrien contemplated this for a few seconds. Yes, he had realised just a short while ago that he had been aware of Marinette’s presence for almost as long as he had been Chat Noir. And even though by now he highly suspected the girl could be Ladybug herself, he didn’t know it for sure. He felt a strong connection to her and yearned for her embraces, her kisses, her sunlight and her warmth. This had nothing to do with some fate telling him to chase after Ladybug, but it was his heart telling him that Marinette was the one who could make him happy. She was the girl who made him feel comfortable and strong, accepted and liked. She often made fun of him as Chat Noir, but he could also laugh along with her, and her smile was like the first bright, warm moments of spring while the sound of her sweet voice showered down on him like a mild summer-rain, drenching him in the most wonderful emotion he knew. She was like a breath of life to his world, and she _was_ his world. He must have felt this way for a long time as of now, otherwise these emotions couldn’t be nearly as strongly and deeply embedded in his soul like they were.

Adrien gulped. Yes, that must be the answer to the question that had been pestering him for quite a while.

The answer was Marinette.

It had always been Marinette.

Plagg stared at him in confusion as Adrien stood up from the bed, walked over to the window and smiled while looking at the night sky where thousand sparkling stars spread over the firmament.

“I’ve always liked her smile,” he mumbled, more to himself than in reply to his kwami. “I just didn’t know it for most of the time.”

Even if Marinette really was Ladybug, there was no destiny tampering with his emotions, since it had been something else that had made him fall for his classmate. She had become his “Lucky Charm” for different reasons than Ladybug would ever have been able to. So even if he still hadn’t managed to define his feelings for Marinette before, he was sure now that they were honest and not affected by Chat Noir’s fate.

For once he was sad that he had promised never to return to the girl’s house in the middle of the night. Never before had he yearned for her gentle embrace and the soft touch of her beautiful lips more than at this very moment. He wanted to read the thoughts hidden behind her clear, blue irises and see his blushing face reflected in her beautiful eyes when he told her that he had finally realised who his heart really belonged to.

He understood it now.

This had never been about him being a hero, about destiny, about the two girls his heart had reached out for, hoping they would be one and the same. It had just been about him, Adrien Agreste, and Marinette from the very beginning. It had taken him a long time to fully grasp it, but now there was not a single doubt about it anymore.

He loved her. It was as simple as that.

He loved Marinette.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, sorry for taking so long with the new chapter!!! Life is a bitch to me right now and I rarely have both time AND motivation to write on this - but I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner than this one. But for now I simply hope chapter 9 was worth the wait <3

The following day had been torture for Adrien. Whenever he saw Marinette at school, he wanted to run towards her, take her warm hands into his and tell her what he had realised the night before. “I love you,” he wanted to scream, but he had to fight every urge to be close to her. He wasn’t Chat Noir right now, he was _Adrien_ , and Marinette didn’t dare to talk to him today. Whenever their gazes met, she averted her eyes quickly – but she wasn’t blushing, not any longer. She seemed desperate, confused, befuddled. Something had changed about her demeanour, and he was wondering what it was. He almost dared to hope it had to do with his alter ego.

“Dude, did you say something mean to Marinette or what is going on?” Nino had finally taken the liberty of asking when the black-haired girl had shot him another sorrowful glance. Adrien quickly shook his head.

“No, I haven’t done anything. What are you talking about?”

“You sure you didn’t reject her by accident or something?” his best friend kept asking and raised an eyebrow, tipping the brim of his cap. “She looks so sad, almost heartbroken, dude!”

“Why should she…?” Adrien glimpsed at the girl standing a few metres away from them in the schoolyard, talking to her friend Alya, and he tried rather fruitlessly to wrap his mind around the other boy’s words. “What has her looking heartbroken to do with me?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Nino knitted his brows even further, almost laughing in disbelief. “Don’t try to tell me you still haven’t realised the _massive crush_ she has on you, dude?! Are you _blind_?”

Adrien’s mouth fell open and closed again, gasping like a fish out of the water. Nino let out a guffaw at this sight in front of him.

“You really didn’t know? Jeez, dude, you’re totally oblivious, oh my god!”

The blond boy wasn’t sure if he could believe what his best friend was telling him. Sure, Marinette often blushed and stuttered when he talked to her, and she also seemed slightly jealous of Chloe – okay, maybe even a lot – whenever the blonde got closer to him, but he had always thought that was because Marinette was a fan of him. Sometimes she seemed intimidated by his presence, sometimes just extremely flustered, but she seemed to enjoy his modelling work either way and was interested in his father’s designing company. So he had always believed that was all there was to it. But… now that he thought about it…

“So you honestly think she has a crush on me? _Really_?” he stuttered, his green eyes fixed on the baker’s daughter.

“Sure do,” Nino mumbled. “At least she did for quite some time. So what did you do that she’s so sad now?”

“Nothing, really! I haven’t even talked to her for days!” Adrien said defensively, one hand pressed against his forehead as he sighed. It wasn’t completely true, of course, since he had talked to her as Chat Noir and even kissed her, but Nino didn’t know about that.

“Then maybe she just gave up on you, dude,” his brown-haired friend muttered and scratched his neck, glancing over at the pair of girls who were still talking eagerly.

“You think so?” Adrien wondered, not sure if he was okay with what this implied. For once, if the story about Marinette’s crush was true, it meant he had had a chance with her all the time – but if she was starting to like someone else, this meant the lucky guy could be none other than _himself_ once more, but as Chat Noir instead. The part of him that felt truer to the person he really was. And that would mean…

Adrien smiled softly and turned to face his best friend again. Nino seemed confused, but nodded slowly as a response to his friend’s previous question. He didn’t understand why Adrien looked so happy about this, but he didn’t question it.

“Alright,” the blond teen mumbled, “guess now I know what to do.”

He wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do so shortly after he had heard about Marinette’s possible crush, and her potential change of heart, once again directed at _him_ – but he had to tell her nonetheless. He simply _had_ to.

 

He couldn’t wait until it was evening. It was a Thursday, and he didn’t have any further obligations besides homework, so nothing stopped him from transforming into Chat Noir and making his way towards the bakery of Marinette’s parents the moment he had entered his room after school. “I have to work on an essay for school and need to concentrate,” he had told Natalie and locked the door behind him, right before he stuffed two pieces of camembert into Plagg’s hands and told him to trigger the transformation.

Now he was on the housetops of Paris again, jumping from roof to roof with a bright smile gracing his face. Never before had he felt so free as the cold winds caressed his face on this winter afternoon and brushed his limbs hidden underneath a layer of dark, leathery fabric. The breeze stung in his eyes, so he had to narrow them to slits as he ran, but it didn’t sour his good mood in the least. He felt happy, literally drawn towards his personal lucky charm, as Plagg had explained the prior night. He needed to see Marinette again, and take her into his arms. He wanted to tell her how he felt, not sure in which way this would change their relationship in the end. But he had to try – he didn’t want to give up on something he desired again, not after so many times of throwing the towel because someone had told him to. No, not this time.

Since it was early February, the days were still short and dawn was already close at hand when he reached the house in the late afternoon. By now he could find his way with his eyes closed, no matter if he was sleepwalking or not. He had been taking this route over the rooftops so often that his feet recognised the course, and his muscles knew exactly when to jump and when to land, when to run and when to stop. Thinking about it, everything made perfect sense to him now: Marinette was the reason he could find his way in the night with eyes shut tight and still reach the warmth of her cosy room safely. His love had woven invisible threats of light between them, illuminating the gloom that ever so often engulfed him whenever he felt alone in his oversized, empty home. A simple thought of Marinette was all it took… A gentle smile adorned his face – even if it was getting dark and the sun was disappearing on the horizon, tinging the city in shades of red and gold in its afterglow, the girl’s sunshine would illuminate his world as soon as he reached her. He couldn’t wait for her beauty to bring colour into his life with a single glimpse of her sapphire orbs, shining even in the most sinister hours.

A loud crash and a scream disturbed the peaceful evening as he landed on the roof opposite Marinette’s home, lost in thoughts and mentally preparing himself for what he should say to her. The voice had sounded a lot like Marinette’s, and his heart seemed to stop for a moment. Why would the girl scream so loud that he even heard it through closed windows unless something bad had happened? With a dart he leaped onto the roof gutter in front of a side window and narrowed his eyes to slits, peering inside. He couldn’t see Marinette at a moment’s notice, which got him even more worried.

“Marinette?” he hissed her name, his face pressed against the pane, and then he put his ear against it to listen for a reply. Of course she didn’t hear him through the glass, so he knocked against it, in his mind already planning the jump up to the hatch on the balcony. He would force it open if he had to, in case she had already locked it for the night. This scream got him really worried – what if she hurt herself and no one else was around? He bit his lip and frantically looked up to the terrace’s railing above his head as a light tap on the window drew his gaze back to it.

At first he saw no one there, so his eyes widened in surprise. Then his glance wandered down to the floor on the other side, and his heart skipped a beat.

It wasn’t Marinette who was staring back at him – it was a pair of big, brown eyes, belonging to a small child with darker skin than Marinette and hair the colour of chocolate, put up in two pigtails on the sides of her head. The child’s front teeth strikingly stuck out as she gaped at the boy sitting in the roof gutter. For a moment she was quiet, then she opened her mouth wide and screamed so loud that Adrien’s ears started ringing even through the pane of glass: “Marineeeeette! There’s someone outside the window!”

The blond boy heard a groan as something moved in the corner of the room he could barely see from where he was sitting. The person hunched on the ground sat up, a painful expression on her visage as she supported herself against the couch, strands of loose hair falling into her face. It was Marinette, of course it was – and she looked distressed, her hair that she usually wore in pigtails wasn’t held back by any bands nor ribbons and was dishevelled and slightly curled at the ends.

“Nonsense, why would someone…” But the moment the black-haired girl had raised her head she fell silent, gaping at the boy balancing on the roof gutter. “Why are you...?” she gasped instead, barely audible for him, and forced herself to stand up, clearly weak on her knees and her face completely red. Adrien scanned the ground next to her as far as possible and could make out the shape of the tailor’s dummy lying on the ground. A smirk tugged on the corner of his lips as he thought that this mannequin was definitely dangerous – it wasn’t the first time it had fallen to the ground with a loud, crashing noise.

The baker’s daughter had walked over to the window, azure eyes fixed on Chat Noir while her lips were still slightly parted by surprise. She laid a hand against the thin bars in front of the glass and mouthed something to Adrien, once, twice, until he finally understood.

“What are you doing here?” she had intended to say, yet had shied away from doing so in front of the child.

“Marinette, that is Chat Noir!” the little girl suddenly exclaimed, once again loud enough for him to flinch. Biting his lip he nodded in the kid’s direction and shot an asking look at Marinette. The black-haired girl just sighed and pointed towards the roof, immediately turning away from the window and leaving the child behind to stare at him.

Understanding her motion as an invitation, he climbed up the terrace as swiftly as he could and stumbled to the unlocked hatch, still befuddled by the whole situation he had found himself in. Before he could question it any further, though, he had already climbed through the balcony window and looked down into the room from Marinette’s comfy bed.

Two pairs of eyes were ogling him curiously as he went down the stairs. He wasn’t quite sure if he should define the circumstances as strange and funny or extremely awkward, but he tried to endorse his entrance with an amused smirk. Well, at least in the case of the small girl it was working, since her face lit up and she grinned back at him.

“I’m sorry, little lady, I just happened to pass by when I heard a scream and…”

“ _Marinette, I didn’t know you’re friends with_ both _Ladybug_ and _Chat Noir!_ ” the kid’s voice cut into his speech and Adrien stopped abruptly, raising one eyebrow hidden behind the mask.

“Wait, with _both_ of us?” he replied bewildered, giving Marinette a curious look. But the black-haired girl couldn’t even answer before the child explained in a sing-song tone: “Marinette told Ladybug where I was captured when that strange lady froze the city!” Gesturing with her tiny hands, she continued: “I was trapped in a cage made of ice until Ladybug saved the day! And Marinette is her _best friend_!”

‘Stormy Weather,’ the name echoed in his head. He remembered that akumatised teenager just too well – however, the way Marinette shook her head in defeat while she was standing behind the child told him that this was probably just partly true. Well, he wouldn’t deal with this issue now – not in front of a bystander.

“That scream you heard,” Marinette broke the sudden silence after a few seconds and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, that was just me. This little angel” – she pointed at the child, brows furrowed – “decided to chase me around the room and I kind of… stumbled. Over the mannequin.” She leaned a bit closer, one hand next to her lips and hissed: “That thing is dangerous!” Adrien couldn’t hide the laugh when she voiced the exact same words he had uttered in his mind just a few minutes ago.

“And who might this little _angel_ be?” he asked, getting down on his knees and petting the girl’s head. He liked kids, even though he rarely had anything to do with them. And he was quite sure he had seen her before…

“Oh, that’s Manon. She’s the daughter of my mom’s friend. I’m babysitting her.”

Of course that name rang a bell. Not only should the whole story about Stormy Weather have been hint enough, he also had to chide his memory for not remembering the little darling that had given him so much trouble during the Marionettiste incident. It had been thanks to her that he could no longer look at dolls the same way as he used to, he remembered and cringed for a moment.

“Hello, little lady,” he eventually purred and ruffled Manon’s hair anew, while she just giggled and grabbed his hand, dragging him in her direction.

“Play with us!” she demanded, and the blond boy could see how the expression of despair grew on Marinette’s face as she frantically moved her arms around as if trying to find a way out of this situation. He wasn’t quite sure if this was because of him – or simply because she didn’t want to force him to deal with this little devil as well. Apparently, Manon had gotten a liking to him almost immediately.

“I’m okay with this,” he whispered in his beautiful crush’s direction and nodded, turning his head back towards the child who grinned like a Cheshire cat. Her eye-catching front teeth, however, rather made her look like a bunny, and Adrien smiled at the adorable picture that formed in his mind. He tried to stand up in front of the bubbly kid, but Manon was quicker, as she jumped into his arms and shouted: “Carry me!”

Adrien could hear Marinette sigh behind him.

“Let’s go downstairs and eat some snacks and play something, alright?” she said quietly and walked over to the hatch door on the ground, quickly pulling it open. “Your mother’s gonna be here in half an hour, anyway.” And while the little girl tried to climb unto Adrien’s back, the boy himself realised that Marinette’s previously so tired-looking eyes had finally regained some of their usual glow. He smiled; maybe his presence was really helping her deal with this little angel that had now conquered his shoulders and was commanding him to carry her down into the living room. And as long as he could be with Marinette and make her feel better, he would be happy, too.

“What do you want to play, little bunny?” Adrien asked while he tried to climb down the stairs with the little girl sitting on his back, pretending to ride the cat bus like in a Ghibli movie Adrien had long before heard of. Manon stopped waving her arms for a second and contemplated her answer – then she just squeaked joyfully.

 

“Okay, it’s your turn! Truth or dare?” The big brown eyes of the little child pierced holes into his head, or so it felt. Adrien was starting to have doubts if it really was a clever idea to play such a game with just three people, one of them being the girl he loved and the other being an overexcited kid. But he had promised to play with them, and he wasn’t going to break his promise because of that. Besides, what could a child her age come up with that was dangerous to him?

“Alright, dare!” he exclaimed with a grin and leaned forwards. They were sitting on the floor, in front of the couch with legs crossed and an empty bottle between them on the ground. It had pointed at Manon most of the time, twice at Marinette and three times at him. However, all he had to do so far were things like “act like a cat” (which wasn’t that hard for him, really), “do the chicken dance” (Manon’s favourite dare so far) and “sing your favourite song” (Marinette had flinched at this suggestion). It wouldn’t be that much different this time around, too.

“Do the chicken dance again, do it again!” the brunette shouted, and even though Adrien was sure repeating the same command was against the rules, he did both of the girls the favour of acting like a fool in front of them. Manon clapped her hands, singing the song he had to dance to, while Marinette tried hard to restrain herself from laughing, one delicate hand held to her mouth in a graceful manner.

“Okay, and now it’s my turn,” he said once he had sat down on the floor again, reaching for the bottle and spun it. To nobody’s surprise, it landed on Manon. The little girl had never looked happier.

“Dare, dare!” she shouted and was far too excited of what would come. Adrien thought for a moment, then he smirked. “Okay, little bunny, try licking your elbow while singing the alphabet,” he told her, grinning from ear to ear. Manon did immediately as told, but when she got to the letter “Q” she looked up desperately.

“I thant theach my elthow!” she whined disappointed, her tongue still sticking out below her front teeth. Marinette on her right side laughed, giving Chat Noir a quick glance.

“That’s because no one can,” she explained, adding a “well, almost no one” under hushed breath. The despair on Manon’s face disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“You tricked me,” she shouted joyfully and grabbed the bottle, ignoring the last missing letters as she spun it again. It landed on Adrien once more, and he could hear Marinette sigh in relief. It was more than obvious that she wasn’t very keen on doing things like running around the room while acting like a monkey or greeting pedestrians on the streets from the living room window. “Heh, now I’m gonna trick you, too!”

“Well, in this case I have to prevent that, little bunbun,” he returned with a smirk. “I’m choosing truth this time.”

The brunette made a pouty face and stared at Adrien, muttering a disappointed “hmpf”. Then she ogled him curiously, wondering what to ask, and turned to look at the black-haired girl next to her. Adrien didn’t like the evil grin that suddenly appeared on Manon’s lips.

“Are you going to marry Marinette when you’re older?”

The huffed “what?!” that escaped the older girl’s mouth was exactly what he had held back for his own sake.

He closed his eyes, thinking no further as he replied: “I would if I could.”

The following silence was the most distressing, daunting reaction he could have received. Yet when he opened his eyes again, he was met with the bewildered faces of the two girls – brown eyes wide open, staring back at him, while Marinette’s clear blue ones were lowered in embarrassment, the colour of her slightly freckled cheeks equalling Ladybug’s mask.

“Then I can’t marry you,” Manon concluded and nodded, as if this had ever been a serious option that was no longer existent from now on. The blushing girl opened her mouth to object to everything that had just happened in front of her eyes, but no words came out. The boy felt almost sorry for her, since something like this had happened twice now in a short period of time, and he wasn’t even sure if she was aware that he wasn’t just fooling around. Hence, he tried to signal her with a reassuring smile that he wasn’t making fun of her, yet she avoided his gaze as if her life depended on it.

“You have to spin the bottle again!” Manon reminded the blond superhero and grabbed his arm as the doorbell suddenly rang. In the blink of an eye Marinette was on her feet and rushed to the door before the situation could get worse. Adrien was almost relieved at this welcome interruption after this awkward disaster.

“Manon!” the baker’s daughter shouted from the front door downstairs. “It’s your mother! Could you please get your bag and come here?”

“Aww, but it’s so much more fun with Marinette and Chat Noir!” she retorted, probably hoping her mum downstairs could hear. She grabbed the black-clad arm of the boy sitting next to her and made a pouty face, trying her best to get her puppy eyes to work. “Can’t I stay a bit longer and play with you?” Another female voice from the lower floor – Adrien recognised her as the announcer from the local news channel – reminded him, however, that he had to resist the urge to say yes.

“No, little bunny, I still have some things to do and… discuss with Marinette,” he mumbled, sheepishly glimpsing in the door’s direction and mentally preparing himself for the worst that was going to come once his crush would return to his side.

“Booo!” the kid complained, but resigned once Marinette appeared in the door frame, almost glaring in their direction. Manon jumped up to her feet, yet not before placing a quick kiss on Adrien’s cheeks, and hurried down the stairs, shouting her goodbyes to her new favourite superhero. Marinette followed her quietly, head lowered, keeping her beautiful eyes out of his sight. He stood up and sat down on the couch, his back turned towards the door, and waited patiently for her return to his side.

The sound of the front door closing was like music in his ears, even though he had enjoyed Manon’s presence as much as he had during the photoshoot a long time ago. But at this very moment there was something far more important than joyful banter with a child. He needed to tell Marinette that he was serious about this; that he hadn’t been joking at all.

He was so lost in the maze of his thoughts that he barely noticed when the baker’s daughter entered the room once more. She stopped behind the couch and cleared her throat, once, twice, before Adrien finally turned around, lips slightly parted but no words coming out. The girl’s hand pointed towards the ceiling of the living room they were in, gesturing in the direction of her cosy room.

“My parents are probably going be back soon, and I don’t want them to drag you into another awkward dinner. Not twice in a row,” she muttered, face flushed and her glimmering eyes nervously flickering in every possible direction. “And I think there’s something we need to talk about.”

Adrien quickly nodded. “We need to talk” was never a good sign, but he was aware that it was a necessity by now, after their kisses and unspoken – or spoken but most likely misunderstood – feelings. “Alright, princess. I’ll follow you everywhere,” he purred with his usual smirk adorning his face and stood up, following her to the upper floor room.

Once the hatch was closed behind him, Marinette’s blue irises finally searched for his green ones anew, and she was biting her lip, acting all jittery.

“Okay, listen, I’m sorry I screamed at you like this yesterday. I treated you unfairly, it wasn’t your fault, I just…” Words gushed out of her mouth like a clear stream of water from a spring, but she accidentally bit her tongue and stopped, contorting her face in pain. Then she shook her head, the loose wisps of her black hair once more falling into her face.

Adrien hadn’t even realised that he had gotten closer, now standing mere inches away from her. He raised his hand, gently putting the strands back behind the girl’s ear, where they had been. The beautiful, red blush on her tender skin hid the tiny freckled spots on her cheeks, and with a soft smile he realised once more: this is the girl that makes me happy. She is my Lucky Charm. _She deserves to know that_.

He leaned closer, carefully pushed the hair covering the girl’s temples aside and placed a long and warm kiss on her forehead. He felt her body tense up, but she relaxed in an instant, delicately touching his raised arms with her cold fingers. All the blood seemed to have rushed to her face and left the rest of her body freezing. He grabbed her hands, holding them in his warm paws, and whispered: “It’s okay. We were both really confused. I was confused as well. But now…” He sighed, not sure how to continue. But he couldn’t stop. Not now. He had to tell her.

“I wasn’t joking when I talked to Manon,” he finally uttered, quieter than intended, and let go of her hands, stepping back to allow his crush a good look at his face. He wasn’t grinning like usual, but a serious and honest expression graced his face. “I was telling the truth. Because I like my princess with all of my heart. No,” he paused for a second, “I _love_ her.”

Adrien couldn’t tell from the look in Marinette’s sky-blue orbs if she had expected those words, and if she accepted the feelings he had presented to her, carefully coated in a shy confession. But he could definitely see that she was speechless, her lips pressed together to form a curvy line. Then her mouth opened and closed again, eyes unblinking, as she stared in his direction. Eventually, after a painfully silent minute, she breathed a simple “Okay.”

This wasn’t the reaction he had anticipated, and most definitely hadn’t hoped for, but he recognised the intense expression on the girl’s face as one of deep thought, her mind running wild and trying to come to a conclusion, wondering how to react. He didn’t expect a rejection to come from her lips, not after last night’s rendezvous on the balcony above – but he feared she might refuse his love nonetheless, wishing to stay as good friends. What he would do in such a case… he didn’t know it. No, he reminded himself, he would do whatever his princess wished for. And if this was going to hurt him, then this would be how it was. He would give her all the time she needed.

But at least this once he was a lucky cat; the girl blinked, her long, dark lashes hiding her blank eyes for a second, just to reveal them again. But this time, the look of determination slid over her irises, those wide blue skies reassuring him that she was not going to cause him pain. Her pinkish lips curled up to a merry smile, and he couldn’t help but do the same.

“I am really happy to hear that, to be honest,” she finally continued, averting her gaze almost immediately as she had uttered those words. “But there is still something I need to know.”

She paused, biting her lower lip as the boy’s emerald irises were fixed on nothing but the beauty in front of him.

“Alright,” Marinette mumbled after another few seconds of contemplation. “I have to ask one last time: what about Ladybug?”

Adrien simply smiled. “It’s true, my heart had yearned for nothing but her for a long time,” he whispered, one hand brushing against the black-haired girl’s. “I admire her. She’s like a goddess to me, powerful and strong.”

Marinette pursed her lips, looking slightly heartbroken for a second. Her fingers touching Adrien’s, however, didn’t flinch or move at all.

“However, then some _miraculous_ coincidence led me to you, and you stole my heart away.”

He could hear a quiet snort coming from Marinette’s direction while he closed his eyes to sort his thoughts. The girl’s fingers enclosed on his paw and her grip slowly but steadily tightened.

“I guess you could say your presence feels like home – the warmth of a family I don’t have.” The snort turned into giggles and she pressed her free hand against her lips to stop the nervous laughter leaving them. Then, in a twinkling of an eye, she lowered her arm again and revealed a bright yet flustered expression.

“You’re so cheesy,” she hushed and tilted her head, giving him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen in his entire life.

“I can’t help it,” he retorted and felt the touch of Marinette’s other hand on his claws as well. She held his paw in her fingers, unsure if this was the right thing to do as the unsteady touch betrayed – but she finally seemed to yearn to be close to him as well, and that awakened a strength inside of him he never knew he had.

“I like it,” she muttered, the smile still gracing her soft lips and the lowered eyes hiding the gleaming sunshine of a summer’s day, encasing its shining light the way a snow globe confined crystalline flakes. “Go on!”

“What else can I say?” he purred and raised his right arm, gently cupping her face. The girl’s grip on his hand tightened even more as she looked up, a soft and healthy tint of red creeping over her pale skin. “You’re wonderful and pretty, you’re brave and you’re strong. You amaze me.”

He stopped the stream of words gushing out of his mouth and grinned, caressing his beautiful princess’s cheek with his thumb while his other paw was engulfed in the warmth of her hands. Adrien dared to lean forwards, closer to her lips, and to his surprise she did the same, inviting him into a brief but eagerly anticipated kiss. After a few seconds their mouths parted again, but neither of them dared to move.

“My princess,” he whispered and felt the girl’s short breaths on his skin as he rested his forehead on hers, carefully stroking her face with his black-clad hand. “ _You are my Lucky Charm_.”

When she laughed, the soft stream of air fondled his lips and he leaned in to steal another kiss from the girl of his dreams.

“You’re really amazing. You’re taking my breath away. There’s so much more to you than I thought when I first met you,” he whispered.

“The Evillustrator case...?” she mumbled queryingly, tilting her head once more. A strand of black hair fell into her eyes and she blew it away.

“Yes,” he nervously replied after a while, wondering how much he could tell her; asking himself if she was ready to know the truth; if _he_ was ready to speak of it. Then he reconsidered: “No, actually. I’ve known you for much longer.”

She opened her eyes wide, azure orbs staring back at him. “So I really _do_ know you?” she exclaimed, taking a step back to look at him as a whole and he immediately regretted his decision, since it had left him devoid of her familiar warmth.

“Probably not as good as you think you do,” he laughed, reaching out for her shoulders again. “But you will know soon enough. Now is not the time, though.” He smiled reassuringly at her. ‘I’m not ready yet,’ he wanted to add, but kept those words inside.

“Not as... good as I think?” she muttered, raising an eyebrow as she glanced at him. But then she heaved a sigh and shrugged. “Alright then. We both still have our secrets, so I guess it’s just fair.”

Adrien wondered what exactly she meant by that, yet he couldn’t keep his train of thoughts as the girl flung herself back into his arms, pressing her head against his chest. “So you love me?” she mumbled into the leathery fabric of his suit, barely audible.

The blond superhero nodded. “Yes, princess, I do,” he promised and could feel how Marinette’s head moved.

“I guess me too,” she hushed and got on her tiptoes, playfully placing a kiss on Chat Noir’s cheeks. “But is the whole _princess_ thing really necessary?”

Without thinking too much, Adrien got down on one knee and grinned up at the perplexed girl. He took her hand and kissed it, like the first time they had met as the knight and his princess.

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” he purred. “I’m sorry for calling you a princess. You are, after all, a _queen_!”

The baker’s daughter rolled her eyes, but from the trembling of her lips he could read that she was desperately trying to hold back her laughter. “Alright, alright, let’s stay with the ‘princess’ before it gets worse,” she eventually burst out laughing and pulled him back to his feet again, leaning into his embrace.

The superhero smiled down at the girl in his arms, lovingly running his fingers through her dark, shimmering hair.

Never before had Adrien Agreste been happier in his entire life. Happier – or luckier.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it has been more than two months since I updated this story..... oh god D': There's so much going on in both my and my editor's lives, so it took quite a while to finish. But here it is at last! I hope you'll enjoy it - I really love this chapter <3
> 
> The first part is some mild MariChat sin, because I needed this to include one of my headcanons (it's silly, but I love it, okay? XD) If you want to skip it, you can just start reading at “Chloé Bourgeois, could you please keep quiet!” - but I wouldn't recommend it ;3 (Don’t worry, the rest of the chapter is important story progression XD)

“I love you so much.” The hoarse whisper was almost too quiet to hear, but the lips who uttered them were right next to her ear, the short breaths brushing over the most sensitive part of her skin. The hot air sent shivers down her spine, and for a moment Marinette froze in place. A black-clad hand was entangled in her loose hair, the other rested on her back.

Marinette opened her mouth, yet nothing but a silent pant escaped it. The boy that sat so close to her, on the rose coloured couch in the girl’s room, had leaned even closer, pressing his lips against her neck, and Marinette could only gasp for air, as if she had forgotten how to breathe.

The touch of surprisingly cold lips marked its path all over her delicate skin, making her shiver even more, and she clutched the boy’s back as if trying not to fall down from cloud nine. His body and his leathery suit were warm, almost burning, yet his lips felt like ice – she could hardly bear it.

“Chat Noir,” she muttered, placidly dwelling the two words, and he pulled back to look at the girl who had said his name in such a lovely manner. He was greeted with a soft smile and rosy cheeks, and dark, tousled hair framing pale, glowing skin and a pair of sky blue sapphires.

“What is it, princess?” he purred, but before he could start grinning, two tender hands had cupped his face and had pulled him closer again. She kissed him, and unlike most kisses they had shared this evening, this one was long, yearning, and the pressing touch of her fingers lingered on his cheeks. Her lips moved against his, slightly parted as she stole his breath away. He gasped, gulped, and tightened his grip on her waist, his paw slowly wandering towards the hem of her sweater. Marinette had already been dressed for bed when Chat Noir had arrived this evening, later than usual and clearly in need of some affection. Well, he got his affection, and a lot more.

The boy’s fingers slid a few inches under her cosy night shirt. It was the big jumper with the cat face on it that she had worn a long time ago when they had met for the second time on Marinette’s balcony, and Chat had remarked on that with great amusement. However, she was sure that he was secretly more than happy to see her in this outfit once again – it held such precious memories for them, like so many other things had now turned into special parts of both of their lives, like certain songs, or blankets, or Marinette’s dress.  

The hot, prickling touch of Chat Noir’s claws on her bare skin brought her back to her senses, and she slightly pulled back, resting her forehead against his, while they both desperately gasped for air.

“What was that for?” the boy whispered under raspy breaths. “Not that I would complain.”

“Your lips,” she replied, equally quiet and husky. “They were so cold.”

She turned her head a tiny bit, once more stealing a short peck, and watched the longing gaze in the boy’s eyes as she pulled away. “They still are,” she concluded, surprised that even this kind of interaction hadn’t warmed them up. “How do you even do that?”

He shrugged. “It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose. Wait...” he swiftly added, an expression of shock quickly growing on his face. “Is it bothering you? Do you not like it?”

The sudden terror on his face made her laugh. “That’s not what I meant,” she explained. “I was just wondering why they are like this.”

“Oh.” Where horror had been an instant ago, a smirk appeared, and the boy’s emerald eyes narrowed to slits underneath the black fabric of his mask. He bent forwards, leaning over the smaller girl and pressed his head against her neck anew, and then lovingly placed a kiss where his breath had caressed her skin mere seconds before.

While Chat Noir’s hand still brushed over her waist, slowly pushing the hem of her sweater upwards, she let her gaze wander through her room to regain her composure she had lost the moment Chat Noir had started touching her. Except for the table lamp on her desk a few feet away, no light was illuminating her room; the moon and stars outside where too dim to make any difference. Since their magical moment on the balcony under the full moon, and their confession of mutual, almost unexpected love shortly after, many days had passed and the glowing orb in the sky was close to disappearing from the sky – and so was her sense of reason, she noticed when Chat’s chilly lips nibbled at her warm skin. She breathed in, out, in... She tried very hard to control her heartbeat which was racing, yearning, screaming for the boy’s touch. But she knew this wasn’t what she could allow herself right now. She needed to stay focused.

Her eyes searched the room once more, trying to find something to hold on to; something that kept her in the realm of reality and stopped her from falling into the cushions of the heavenly cloud she seemed to float on.

Marinette’s gaze rested on the photographs on her walls, and with a shock she realised that she still hadn’t put them down, even though she had planned to do so ever since she had become aware of her love for her partner. However, something in her mind had always hesitated and distracted her whenever she was about to take the pictures off the walls. Some part of her seemed to be stuck with her long-lasting admiration of Adrien Agreste.

But still, she felt bad for tarrying. It was just fair to get rid of them now that she had a boyfriend.

_A boyfriend._ The words echoed in her mind, and the thought that this special person wouldn’t be Adrien, but Chat Noir in the end, seemed so surreal and yet perfect to her that a grin bloomed on her face while a giggle escaped her lips.

Chat Noir raised his head, his warm breath gently teasing her skin.

“What are you thinking about, princess?” he purred and placed a kiss on her jaw line.

“My boyfriend,” she drawled her thoughts out loud, the grin still stuck on her face as if it had always been there.

“Yours truly,” he replied, his cold lips formed to a smirk as he dappled Marinette’s cheek with kisses spreading over her soft skin like icy flowers. “Yours, and truly yours alone.”

Ever since his confession he had made sure that Marinette knew he was only thinking of her, and her alone. He told her again and again that he was hers, and he had been true to his word. He didn’t flirt with Ladybug, nor any other woman they met. In fact, he assured her that it had always been only the two girls – which in fact were one and the same, Marinette remarked in her mind, realising that he had basically been faithful to her all the time. Just once in a while Chat Noir had engaged in playful banter with his lady, teasingly saying things like “Looks like you weren’t fast enough with falling for me, my lady. Now my princess owns my heart.” Ladybug had just rolled her eyes every time, fighting the urge to exclaim that, no, she indeed _had_ been fast enough.

“Me too,” Marinette eventually sighed – whatever the boy did, it was driving her crazy, today more than ever before. “I’m truly yours,” she added, a guilty part of her mind nagging her, reminding her of the pictures still placed on her walls.

If he noticed something, Chat Noir didn’t let it show. He simply grinned like a Cheshire cat, letting his feline instincts show as he nestled his head against her neck anew and even purred barely audible. “I’m glad to hear that, Marinette.”

He didn’t leave her more time to recover from her overexcited heartbeat; his right hand slid under her shirt again and the fingers of his left paw played with the loose strands of her black, unkempt hair. She pressed her eyes shut, giving in to the burning sensation the trail of his claws left on the slightly freckled skin at her back as they wandered further up her delicate body. She gulped, once, twice, before her hands slid into the small gap between their chests, gliding over the smooth fabric of his suit. She could feel every tiny crease in the cloth, the ups and downs as her fingers travelled over the blond teen’s collarbone. She knew the fabric of the costume too well, since it was similar to her own – except that his felt more like leather while it looked like neoprene. But in the end it was neither – it was a kind of material no human could define, since it was created by the quantic gods, Tikki had once told her. It was made so that it was indestructible and fit their bodies like a glove. And she loved the feeling of her fabric’s suit on her skin; it made her feel powerful and strong, and just as undefeatable. However, at this very moment she didn’t care about her suit’s effect at all. She would much rather feel the fabric of Chat Noir’s magical costume on _her_ skin, she…

Her hands rested on his shoulders, her fingers gently tracing the bones hidden underneath. The brushing motion didn’t make a sound, so the silence was undisturbed beside the forced breaths that left both teenager’s mouths once in a while. Marinette could feel the cold air on her skin as her shirt was already lifted half way, and yearning for warmth she pressed her chest against Chat Noir’s upper body, clasping her arms behind his back, unwilling to let him go. He turned his head, brushing her mouth and eventually finding back to it, busying his lips with hers. They were warm now, the black-haired girl realised. It was about time they were.

“Marinette,” he muttered in-between kisses, and “princess, my princess.” She could have sworn she had also heard a “lady” somewhere in the mass of his unintelligible gush of words, but her mind was too far gone to notice anything important. All she could hear was the sound of his heart, and the only thing she could see was the lush green of his narrowed eyes, reminding her of meadows in spring, before they closed again and his lips met hers afresh.

Her arms behind his back parted as she sensed his fingers close to her bra, and she could feel him freeze the moment he realised where they had landed. Yes, she thought, he acted like he was a flirt, but in the end he probably was just as insecure as her. That encouraged her to try something she unwittingly had yearned to do for minutes now: her arms slowly drew back and her hands reached for his collar, a finger brushing the golden bell that rang out with a clear jingle. While Chat Noir’s hands still twitched to and from the fastener of the girl’s bra, she forcefully grabbed the cold metal of the bell attached to his suit’s zipper – and the moment a surprised gush of air escaped from the blond boy’s parted lips she yanked at it.

Nothing happened.

She pulled at it again. Still, nothing moved.

“What the…” she began to mutter annoyed, the magic of the moment already starting to drift far, far away.

“What are you…?” Chat couldn’t finish his question as another tug at his collar almost strangled him and only let a burbling sound escape his throat.

“Why isn’t it moving?” she whined, trying to slide a hand in-between his neck and his black-clad body. Without success. She didn’t get any further than the loose fabric of his collar.

“You must be joking,” she groaned, leaning back and shaking her head. “I knew the suits were special, but I had no idea that they _literally_ stick to” – she stifled the “our” that was making its way out of her lips – “ _your_ bodies like this. Did you know about that?”

The blond boy seemed confused for a moment, his paws awkwardly placed on her nape and spine, unsure what to do. “I… no… what?”

“Your suit, dummy,” she sighed and poked her index finger into his muscly chest. “I can’t move or remove it. At all. Is this how it always is?”

He pursed his lips, emerald eyes still wide open. But he finally seemed to regain his mind and eventually shrugged. “I don’t know. I never tried. A transformation usually doesn’t take longer than thirty minutes, so I never had to even try to remove the suit…”

It made sense to her, now that she thought about it, Marinette concluded with another heavy sigh. After all, their suits were made to resist any kind of damage, just like their masks couldn’t be removed by any power that didn’t originate from the quantic gods. She had already known that for a long, long time, but she had never thought about it on the whole. Yet making them irremovable seemed quite logical, given what she already knew. However, this didn’t change the fact that the _stupid_ magic of their _stupid_ costumes had completely ruined her _stupidly_ good mood.

“Sorry, Chat,” she muttered and got ready to stand up from the couch. “But I’m tired anyway. You should probably go. I have school tomorrow.” She paused, turning her head in his direction. “I guess _we_ have school, since you seem to be a student as well,” she added and chuckled.

“Wait!” The blond boy’s hands shot up and clutched her arm as he rose to his feet, standing mere inches away from her. Marinette could feel her heartbeat preparing for another sprint, but she bit her lip reluctantly to calm her racing mind.

“What is it?” she asked, more bluntly than intended.

“I know this is a weird request, but…” Chat Noir seemed even more flustered than moments before, the red creeping over his face from under his jet-black mask. His gaze was lowered to the ground, hiding the sheer magnitude of emotions in his emerald orbs from her. “I haven’t been able to get much rest lately, because of… family issues, and… I was wondering…” His gaze flickered in her direction, searching for the depth of her sky blue eyes as he continued: “Just for a short while, can I rest in your bed? I want to hug you a bit longer. _Princess_ ,” he quickly added to keep up appearances. “Until my kwami recharged? He had to deal with a lot of… extracurricular transformations lately.”

The apologetic look on his masked face warmed her heart and awoke the butterfliesiHis in her stomach. “It’s okay,” she whispered and gently brushed his reddish cheek with her fingertips. “For a short while it’s okay.”

It was hard for her to realise what his words implied, thus only when they both lied in the pastel sheets of her cosy bed – his arms wrapped around her body – she understood what “until my kwami recharged” actually meant for their situation. The baker’s daughter gulped.

“Chat?” she asked quietly, her eyes slowly getting used to the darkness in her room. “Did you mean you’re going to… transform back?”

He hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded. She could feel the movement of his head on the pillow and the rustling sound his hair made when it grazed the cushions. “Close your eyes,” he purred, “and better keep them closed. We don’t want your parents to wake up because of your scream once you see who I really am,” he added, and she could literally hear the smirk in his voice.

“Why would I scream? Are you that terrifying? Ugly? Shocking?” she returned cheekily.

“I’d say ‘stunning’,” he laughed and pressed his forehead against hers. “Now, keep those pretty eyes closed, princess. Please.”

She murmured a stifled reply and immediately felt a soft stream of air on her skin, brushing over her like a gentle wave and bathing her in a magical warmth. She knew that feeling too well; it was almost the same as when she transformed back into Marinette, except less prickling and sparkling. The atmosphere surrounding the boy for an instant was colder, not as… auspicious as the one she knew by heart. It wasn’t like sunshine embraced her, yet it felt like the moon kissed her skin as she floated through a quiet ocean.

A moment, mere seconds later, the feeling was gone. And Marinette knew that the boy lying next to her was her love’s true self. She didn’t know who he was, and she was curious. But she had promised to keep her eyes closed. Chat Noir had been right: this wasn’t the ideal moment to lift the curse of not knowing the other’s secret identity. No, not yet.

Her hands, however, were reluctant to stay in the dark, trying to fumble their way of the vale of ignorance. Her fingers searched for his face, traced the lines of his lips and jaw. They were familiar to her, as she had touched them many times before – except there was no mask hiding his cheeks from her, and his soft hair seemed to fall into his face in an unusual fashion. She dared to play with his bangs and tenderly laid the tip of her nose against his, giving him loving nose-to-nose kisses, until his lips finally caught hers again in a short, but affectionate touch.

“Keep your eyes closed,” the boy next to her breathed against her parted lips, “and just try to sleep. I’ll be gone in the morning.”

And while the strong arms of the mystery boy with the once again cold lips and the gentle voice held her close in his embrace, Marinette slowly drifted away into sleep.

She wasn’t quite sure she had even been awake before. It all seemed too unreal, too much of a dreamlike fantasy.

But she knew this wasn’t the case. She knew he was there. As if to assure herself, she stole a last, fleeting peck from his lips before her mind eventually clouded over and sunk into the land of dreams.

 

“Chloé Bourgeois, could you please keep _quiet_!”

Marinette, lost in her memories of the previous night, winced and turned her head away from the piece of paper lying in front of her, fixing her eyes on the blonde in the front row. Chloé, however, didn’t even flinch; she just smirked at the woman standing behind the teacher’s desk, glaring at the girl and most likely cursing her mentally. Marinette felt really sorry for the young trainee teacher. Of all the classes here she had to give her first lesson in the one with the worst pest of this school – the mayor’s daughter.

“Madame Paix, I didn’t say anything. You must have imagined something. Or _maybe_ it was Marinette,” said pest called out to the teacher, her hand raised to her mouth in an arrogant manner as she added a contemptuous laugh. The black-haired girl knitted her brows and bit her lower lip, but stayed silent when the woman’s gaze wandered in her direction. Chloé’s claim had been absolutely baseless and ludicrous, but the stressed out teacher didn’t seem to care – she needed a scapegoat for her anger. Marinette could feel the icy glance on her skin as she looked down at her paper, her hands carefully covering the page and shielding it from the woman’s eyes.

“Whoever it was, just keep your mouth shut. This day already is horrible as it is, so don’t make it worse.” With these words the lady returned to the notes she had written down on the blackboard and continued her lesson. Marinette felt horribly guilty when she realised that she had no clue what today’s topic was, since her mind had been stuck at another place in another time from the moment she had woken up this morning. Yet even though she felt obligated to focus on class, her brain had other plans and her eyes observed the scribbles on her notepad instead of the board.

All over the page she had drawn tiny sketches of none other than Chat Noir – his face, his body, even his eyes in surprising detail – and there were hearts everywhere. The most embarrassing thing, however, was the huge heart-shaped form within which she had subconsciously written “Chat Noir + Marinette”, petite hearts as the dots on the “i”s in both of their names. The baker’s daughter gulped and leaned over the page as she tried to rip it out of the pad.

“What are you drawing?” Alya’s voice whirled up the restless thoughts in Marinette’s head even further, forcing the girl’s mild distress to grow into sheer, utter panic, so the teenager raised her head straightaway and gaped at her friend in shock. The brunette was already staring at the paper before Marinette could cover it with her hands.

“Is that _Chat Noir_?” her best friend whispered amused, pointing at the tiny cat-and-human-like figures drawn all over the white surface. “And all those hearts… Don’t tell me you suddenly fell for that kitty-cat, girl?” Alya continued babbling and Marinette could almost hear the teacher’s annoyed huffing from the other end of the room. “What about Adrien? Seriously, spill the beans! What did I miss?!”

“ _Nothing!_ ” Marinette burst out, panic-stricken, and clasped her hands over her mouth at once. This simple word had come out louder than intended – way too loud, in fact. Now all eyes in the whole classroom were set on her. Adrien, right in front of her, had raised an eyebrow in confusion, and before he or anyone else could see the notepad with the treacherous drawings, she slipped it into her bag in an attempt to prevent at least one catastrophe. However, her actions had raised the dragon from its slumber nonetheless.

“ _You_!” the sharp voice of the trainee teacher cut the almost shock-frozen air in the room in half, and Marinette could hear Chloé’s content giggle from her right side. “I am _so sick_ of you annoyingly stuck-up kids, thinking it’s fun to interrupt my lesson like this _. I am so goddamn sick of it!_ ” With a loud crash, the woman slammed her left hand down at the teacher’s desk, accidentally hurling a textbook towards the pupils’ seats. It landed on the floor, and while her fist still trembled she first glared at the guiltless book on the ground, and then at the surprised teenagers in the classroom. With her other hand she was clutching a chalkboard pointer which she brandished like a sword in front of her, furiously pointing it at the class.

“If you think that you don’t need to listen to anything I’m saying, then alright! Do whatever you want! I’m done with you!” The angry teacher made sure to kick the textbook away to demonstrate her fury one more time, before she stomped over to the door, pulled it open and shut it with a bang behind her back. For a few seconds Marinette could hear the loud clomping from the hall and the stairs, before everything suddenly became silent.

The black-haired girl opened her mouth to say something to her classmates who were still gaping at either her or the door, but the words were stuck in her throat. She wasn’t quite sure what hurricane had just passed them; it had all happened way too fast for her distracted mind.

“What the heck was that?” Chloé finally asked the question on everyone’s mind, but she added with an obnoxious smirk: “Guess our class rep managed to give us an extended break. Amazing work, Marinette!”

Alya shook her head and rolled her eyes, before she glared at the giggling blonde. “I don’t know what’s been biting Madame Paix the whole day, but she’s clearly been annoyed even _before_ Marinette said something. And that’s partly _your_ fault as well, Chloé!”

“Whatever it is, she ran out of the room because of me,” the black-haired girl added unnerved and rose from her seat. She wasn’t keen to admit that this had happened due to her – because seriously, she wasn’t the only one to blame – but someone had to do something about it and _apologise_. And since Chloé would never _ever_ do this, the wiser head had to give in, Marinette concluded with a weary sigh. “I’ll try to talk to her.”

She stumbled down the steps and through the classroom entrance, feeling thirteen pairs of eyes following after her until she silently closed the door.

Everything was quiet, as quiet as a grave. Even the muttering voices from the classroom could no longer be heard. And what was even weirder… not only there were no human noises audible in the building, but neither could she hear the cars from the street or the birds in the sky above. It was as if silence had laid a soft blanket over everything, extinguishing all noises and sounds and suffocating them at the core; as if everything in this school had just been… muted.

“ _It’s you!_ ” a familiar, shrill voice behind Marinette’s back gave her a start and almost made her fall down the steps. She came to a halt at the foot of the staircase and turned her head – and directly faced a humanoid figure with ridiculously big ears. She had never seen that person before, but the voice… yes, she clearly knew that one.

“You are that annoying girl that just _could not shut up_!” the person screamed and raised their arm, and as Marinette took to her heels to find a place to hide, she knew that this had to be the trainee teacher she had accidentally routed out of the classroom. And not only that, Hawk Moth had gotten to her before Marinette could apologise. Now there was only one way to deal with this: she needed to transform into Ladybug.

The black-haired girl managed to slid through a door unnoticed, finding herself in the locker room of the school building. Since it was class time, not a soul wandered over the wooden tiles, and the in the resulting silence Marinette’s steps felt uncomfortably clamorous. She ducked her head below the windows facing the yard and tiptoed along the rows of lockers, hiding in the corner farthest away from the door and out of the large windows’ sight. She knew the glass was only see-through from her side, but knowing what strange things akumatised people were usually capable of she didn’t want to risk anything. Huddled up against the cold metal of a locker, Marinette grabbed her purse, knowing that it was now or never. “Tikki,” she whispered towards her opened purse, “I need you to transform me right no-”

“ _I can hear you!_ ” a shrill shriek and the booming sound of the door bursting open made Marinette cringe and stumble, until she couldn’t keep her balance and fell down on her butt. The surprisingly tall figure of the akumatised teacher seemed to grow even further when she looked down on her student sitting on the ground, fingers still clasped around the bag on her side. “I hear everything you students whisper behind my back. That’s why I’m going to make you _shut up_ _for good_!”

The woman raised her hand again, and this time Marinette noticed that she was holding something in her bluish fingers: a remote. Knowing that this was definitely bad news, the heroine tried her best to jump back on her feet and run away, but her legs seemed to be frozen in place. She couldn’t move at all.

“Hey, you!”

The woman yanked her head around to find the source of the noise, spotting another girl standing in the door frame, facing them directly with a fierce glare. “No one hurts my best friend as long as I have a say in it!”

“Alya!” Marinette gasped in shock. Sure, she didn’t want to be attacked by an Akuma, especially not as long as she was not yet transformed – but why had Alya to be the one that had to put herself in danger because “Ladybug” was unable to do her job right?

“Another one of you boisterous calamities!” the akumatised teacher screeched and quickly floated towards the brunette who swirled around and tried to run away from the furious woman, back into the courtyard and far away from the friend she tried to protect. “I hate noise! I hate talking! I hate all of you kids! You should just shut up!”

“Don’t you think you choose the wrong line of work in this case?”

Marinette raised her head to locate the source of the other familiar voice, yet needn’t even stand up and look through the windows to tell that it was Chat Noir, most likely sitting enthroned on the balustrade with his usual happy grin gracing his face, as if he was on a joyous field trip instead of a fight. Once the baker’s daughter heard the hero’s battle cry she finally regained her strength and got back on her feet, staggering to the wide open door. Her eyes caught her partner jumping around like a hyperactive kitten, trying his best to confuse the enemy until he could evaluate the position.

“Marinette, quick!” A dark-skinned hand grabbed the black-haired girl’s arm as another person slid past her, back into the locker room Marinette had just tried to leave. It was none other than her best friend, of course, who had managed to escape the teacher’s wrath thanks to the blond hero’s distraction. “Girl, stop spacing out! I know you seem to be strangely fascinated by Chat Noir all of a sudden, _but we need to hide_.”

Before the brunette could drag her back into the room, Marinette caught a glance of her classmates trying to run down the stairs and escape the building as inconspicuously as possible – completely failing, of course, because a certain blonde couldn’t stop herself from complaining the moment she stumbled over her own, delicate feet. Even through the open door to the locker room Marinette couldn’t understand what Chloé had hissed – it had been barely audible, but it had been enough for the noise-hating teacher: With a loud cry the woman jumped away from the blond boy, towards the students that screamed in shock, trying to run away – in vain.

“Oh my god!” Alya winced behind her back, “I think she reacts to sound!”

From their hiding spot underneath the windowpanes Marinette peeked through the glass, well aware that she was in a very tricky situation. They were not safe until Ladybug arrived, and everyone in their close proximity could see that – but since she _was_ Ladybug and could not transform unless Alya let her go, their terrible situation would stay like this forever. And who knew how long Chat Noir could keep their enemy busy.

In the mere seconds Marinette had blinked, their enemy had pointed the remote at the students with a flick of her hand, shooting beams of blue light in their direction. They screamed, and to the girl’s surprise both Rose and Max had the most piercing cries she had ever heard. Yet once the beams hit them, their yells stopped, while their mouths were still opened wide in a silent scream.

“Sorry, lady, but _muting_ everyone will not suddenly make you the _purr_ fect teacher,” Chat Noir’s cheeky voice resonated from the other side of the open yard. He had managed to get out of the conflict zone while their enemy had been busy with the other teens. “Who are you even? The Scream? Silencio? _Calm_ -lamity?”

“I am _The Mute_!” the akumatised teacher hissed back at the catlike hero. “And I hate noise!”

“You’re quite noisy yourself, just saying,” the boy retorted with a shrug and jumped down from the balustrade he was sitting on, his baton extended and aimed at the self-acclaimed silencer. “So you’re trying to make _teenagers_ shut up? Teenagers, of all people? Are you for real?” Chat Noir’s baton missed the teacher who in return aimed her remote at him, pressing another button that sent a red beam flying in the hero’s direction. From her safe spot Marinette cringed when she saw the painful expression on her lover’s face when the beam of light hit his left arm.

“That hurt!” the blond teen exclaimed and bit his lip, eyes shut close to deal with the pain. “What kind of teacher hurts their student like this. Err, I mean, _hurts a random guy like this_?!”

The Mute only snarled at the catlike boy and pressed another button – and this time a green flash would have bashed against Chat Noir’s chest, hadn’t his catlike reflexes saved him in time. He was getting less and less careful with each passing second, Marinette realised. He must be waiting for Ladybug’s appearance, counting on her just like everyone else.

And here she was, hiding with her best friend, unable to help anyone.

“Why is Ladybug still not here?” Alya hissed right next to Marinette, staring at her phone as if it would give her the answer she was looking for.

“Chat Noir needs her,” Marinette added desperately, glancing at the mild movement in her pink bag. She couldn’t risk transforming in front of Alya, her secret was too important for that. Unless something really, _really_ bad happened that would force her to transform, she had to hide her secret, she…

A loud, painful screech pierced through her ears like a dagger, yanking her gaze back to the fight going on in the schoolyard. There was Chat Noir, hunched over at the ground, holding onto his chest. She couldn’t see a wound, but that was most likely because of his magic suit. He was definitely hurt, though. And The Mute raised her remote once more…

Before Marinette knew what she was doing, she had jumped out of her hiding spot, hurrying to her partner’s side and pushing him out of harm’s way. The red and green beams of light hit the ground, breaking holes into the even floor. And those flashes had hit Chat Noir before, Marinette realised. That must have been terribly painful… she had to do something!

“Princess, get out of the way! I can’t endanger you like this _again_!” the boy whispered into her ear and tried to get back on his feet, failing miserably. Marinette chose to ignore his words and instead helped him stand up, allowing him to lean onto her shoulder for support. Against his better judgement he allowed her to drag him out of the way, towards the locker room Alya was still hiding in.

“You are the one who needs to get out of here! You’re hurt, and I can’t allow her to cause you even more pain, so…” she huffed, out of breath since the adrenaline rush of the shock had made her heart race.

“ _Marinette!_ ” For a second the baker’s daughter thought Chat Noir simply wanted to object to her words, but instead he had shouted her name in panic, shifting his weight on her shoulders so much that she tumbled to the ground, right through the door and in-between the rows of benches and lockers closest to it. The fall had blocked her view for an instant, but when she could see clearly again she inevitably noticed that her partner was slumped over her like a shield. Another ray of red light had almost hit them, and by now she was absolutely sure that the red and green beams of light caused horrendous pain, unlike the silencing blue flashes.

“Please hide somewhere in here, quickly! If something happened to you I could never forgive myself, so please just- URGH!”

Before Chat could finish, the damage from the previous attacks started to get to him, and when Marinette dared to look up at the face of her boyfriend, sheltering her from harm, she felt panic, worry and fury grow in her heart alike. She tried to push him away, but even weakened he was too strong to be moved by her untransformed self, so the only thing she could do was reassure him that, yes, she was fine. “But _you_ aren’t. I can handle this myself, so please be careful and… just let me _hide_ , alright.”

The blond boy nodded, his face still distorted by pain, and rolled over to his side, lying flat on the ground. As she sat up and turned her head in his direction, Marinette couldn’t focus on anything but the boy’s closed eyelids and the long lashes, fluttering nervously during that short moment of peace. From the corner of her vision she detected her best friend’s presence, warily looking at the two teens from her place behind the lockers on their left. “Alya,” Chat Noir whispered, his arms crossed in front of his forehead as he breathed heavily, trying to regain his strength. “Please take Marinette and hide! That _excruciatingly_ nice person here seems to have taken a liking to her.” He turned his head and forced a grin onto his face, even though the look in his eyes betrayed his fear. “Seriously, princess, what’s been _bugging_ her all the time? Heh…”

Before Marinette could even form her lips to a smile at the boy’s ill-timed pun, a yellow ray of light hit the ground right next to her. She had not yet seen the effects of attacks in this colour, and to be honest, she was not in the mood to find out.

“I’m sorry,” she whined as she stood up, and sprinted towards Alya the moment The Mute entered the room. She felt terribly guilty for leaving her partner on the ground and at their enemy’s mercy, even if it was only for a few minutes until she had somehow found a spot to finally transform into Ladybug. However, there was no way she could escape the room without the akumatised teacher hearing her, or Alya and Chat Noir noticing what she was up to. The longer she thought about it, the more futile it seemed.

Alya had already grabbed her best friend’s arm once more in either panic or excitement – Marinette could never quite tell which one it was with Alya. But needless to say, the brunette wasn’t planning of letting her go again that easily, and Marinette mentally cursed her infuriatingly bad luck today. Of course, she was glad that everyone was so worried about her, but if they just stopped keeping their eyes on her for a second or stayed out of trouble for a short moment, she could finally do something and actually _help_. But no, Lady Luck clearly wasn’t on her side this day, which was terrifying enough for someone whose superpower was based in that exact thing: luck.

The girls hadn’t even managed to reach the farthest row of lockers when a gut-wrenching cry made Marinette stop in her tracks. She heard the angry snarls from the teacher, and the moment she turned around she was faced with an image ripped straight out of her nightmares: Chat Noir was still lying on the ground, the skin on his face seemed bruised and the usually indestructible material of his black suit looked like someone had dragged sandpaper all over the leathery fabric. If The Mute was able to do something like this, she was definitely not one of the easier enemies; even worse, Hawk Moth had probably found a way to make his subordinates stronger with every passing second their anger grew.

The teenager barely heard the startled yell of her best friend as her legs carried her over to the source of the excruciating scream, and the black-haired girl had no control over her muscles until she finally stood between the two adversaries.

She wanted to shout at the akumatised teacher, hurl the worst curse words she knew at her and slap the contemptuous glare right out of the woman’s visage, but faced with the threat she once again was unmovable like stone; like a wall separating the hurt Chat Noir from their common enemy. The Mute, however, was unimpressed by this rash action. In fact, she seemed rather pleased that the person she carried the worst hatred for basically handed herself over on a silver platter.

“Thanks for being so obliging,” the woman hissed and raised the remote again, a dark blue finger searching and finding the button she had pressed to silence the girl’s classmates.

“Don’t even dare to do that!” Chat Noir screeched like a panicked kitten, jumping up from the ground with newfound strength and seized Marinette’s delicate body, pulling her out of the way with a loud hiss for the last time.

Then the blue beam of light that was supposed to hit Marinette struck the boy’s head like an arrow, and it seemed like all sound in the girl’s world vanished. Chat Noir’s lips were slightly parted and his white teeth flashed through them as he fell back to the ground, perfectly quiet, as if he was just an illusion about to disappear. He cringed and opened his mouth to utter a lie like “I’m okay,” but froze in place when he noticed that it was impossible for him to make yet another pun to hide his pain from Marinette.

That did it! Marinette had reached the point of no return, the point where she was desperate and frightened enough to do something she had never wanted to do. She quickly turned her head on the lookout for other bystanders, but to her luck – as rare as it was today – everyone in this school had either been able to escape or was clever enough to stay hidden in their classrooms. Whatever they did, they weren’t watching, and that was the most important thing. It was bad enough as it was, with both her boyfriend and best friend watching her as she faced the akumatised villain all by herself.

In the corner of her eye she could see Alya slowly approaching, trying to help either Marinette or the cat-like hero, unsure what she was to do once she reached either of them. The Mute seemed to notice this as well, as she swung the remote in the brunette’s direction and was just about to press the red button when Marinette stretched her arms in a protective manner and stopped the teacher from floating further.

“That’s enough,” she muttered, fists clenched, and shot a look at the two best friends she had. They were both in danger, and that was the only reason she could think of to justify what she was about to do.

“I’m sorry I kept this from you for so long,” she said louder, her voice steady and confident, to her own surprise. As if Tikki could read her thoughts, Marinette’s purse slowly opened and the girl’s blue orbs flickered towards the red kwami hiding in there. The gigantic eyes of the tiny creature were full with worry, and Tikki seemed to understand that there was hardly a way for Marinette to transform without putting her friends in danger and making it impossible for them to guess Ladybug’s true identity at the same time.

“I understand,” the magical creature’s soft voice sounded from the bag. “I will transform you now.”

“Thank you,” Marinette whispered, her pinkish lips unfurling to a smile as she felt her last moments of Ladybug’s identity being a secret to _everyone_ approaching.

“Tikki,” she said. “Spots on!”


End file.
